Full Name: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro
Birth date: February 2nd, 1985
Age: 29 years old
Birthplace: Funchal, Madeira - Portugal
Height: 186 cm (1m 86cm)
Weight: 84 kg
Field position: Left/right winger, striker/forward
First professional club: Sporting Clube de Portugal
Career debut: October 7th 2002, against Moreirense
Current club: Real Madrid (since 2009)
International team: Portugal
International debut: August 20th 2003, against Kazakhstan
Nicknames: CR7, CR9, Ronny
Cristiano Ronaldo is the son of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro (a cooker) andJosé Dinis Aveiro (a Municipal gardener). Many say that Ronaldo's humble family origins are the reason why CR7 manages to deal so well with the fame and spotlights he has nowadays. Cristiano Ronaldo has two older sisters, Liliana Cátiaand Elma, and one older brother, Hugo.
Cristiano Ronaldo first steps in football/soccer were made in his amateur hometown club called Andorinha, when he was still 8 years old. A couple years later, CR7 moved to CD Nacional, one of the most known teams in Madeira, around his 10th birthday. But he didn't stay there for too long and the year after (1996),Ronaldo was persuaded to join Sporting Lisbon, one of the biggest clubs inPortugal.
It's now clear that 1996 was a turnaround year in Cristiano Ronaldo life. By joining Sporting CP, Ronaldo had to leave his family back in Madeira and start learning how to live on his own. CR7 trained with the youth team in the first years and in 2002, by the age of 16, he made his senior debut against Moreirense, in thePortuguese First Division. In that match, Ronaldo scored a brace and immediatly caught everyone's attention upon him. The European debut took place later on, in the UEFA Champions League qualifier match against Inter Milan.
By the age of 17, Cristiano Ronaldo really started to attract many attentions throughout the World, and his tremendous performances when playing forPortugal's Youth Team in UEFA's Under 17 Championship, made him one of the most promising stars of the moment. Among many other top clubs, Liverpool andArsenal had some scouts on that tournament. Managers Gérard Houllier and Arsene Wenger were allegadly interested in signing Cristiano Ronaldo. However, it was revealed later that both clubs got a bit hesitant on betting in such a young player and Manchester United ended up to rush things and sign Ronaldo in the 2003 pre-season.
The moment Cristiano Ronaldo definately convinced a top club to sign him, was after a 2003 pre-season friendly match, between Sporting and Manchester United, in the inauguration of the "Estádio José de Alvalade" in Lisbon. The Portuguese side defeated the Red Devils by 3-1 and United players were said to be stunned byCristiano Ronaldo's technique skills as well as his natural talent and kept talking about it on their way home. Rumors say that Sir Alex Ferguson had a chat with his team players and then decided to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, in a transfer fee around 15 million euros (£12.24 million pounds).
