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Born February 5, 1985, winger Cristiano Ronaldo of the English Premier League club Manchester United signed a $21.24 million contract in 2003 at the age of 18. In that year he was given his first cap while he played for the Portuguese. Cristiano went to the final of the UEFA Euro in 2004, where he delighted his fans when he scored the first international goal of his career.
Born February 5, 1985, winger Cristiano Ronaldo of the English Premier League club Manchester United signed a $21.24 million contract in 2003 at the age of 18. In that year he was given his first cap while he played for the Portuguese. Cristiano went to the final of the UEFA Euro in 2004, where he delighted his fans when he scored the first international goal of his career. Ronaldo was on the global rise scoring often at both club and international levels and received his first Premier League title in the 2006-07 season. As the Premier League's top scorer, Ronaldo was named the FIFPro World Player of the Year in 2008. Also in 2008, Ronaldo achieved the Ballon d'Or award-quite the achievement for such a young soccer player. As the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Averio and Jose Dinis Averio, his second given name, "Ronaldo," was an obvious choice to his father naming him after the then US president Ronald Regan, but not for his presidency, Regan was Ronaldo's father's favorite actor. Cristiano has two older sisters and one older brother. Christiano Ronaldo was only eight years old when he began playing for for the amateur team C.F. Andorinha. In 1995, Cristiano signed with local football club CD Nacional. His success was so great that the Sporting CP club gave him a contract after a three-day trial run for a never-disclosed signing bonus. At the Sporting CP facility in Portugal, Ronaldo trained at the footballer's academy the Alcochete. Eventually, he became the only footballer ever to play for Sporting's U-16, U-17, U-18, and B-teams. Manchester United was pleading with Sir Alex Ferguson to sign this young phenom and so, in 2003, recognizing his immense talent, Ferguson did just that, and created a fan favorite. The first Portuguese player ever to sign with an English team, Cristiano now found himself backed by a talented club. But, he didn't want the #7 that was so tied in with David Beckham and Eric Cantona; instead, wanting to be his own man, Cristiano took #23. In a 4-0 win over the Bolton Wanderers that year, Cristiano made his club debut in the 60th minute. Then in October of 2005, Christiano scored United's 1,000th Premier League goal. Fans gave him the vote to take part in his first-ever FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year awards. In 2006, Ronaldo attained consecutive Barclays Player of the Month awards, only the third player in history to do this since Dennis Bergkamp in 1997 and Robbie Fowler in 1996. Cristiano's 50th career goal with Manchester United came against rivals Manchester City F.C. when they claimed their first Premier League title in just four years. Again, Ronaldo was voted the FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year Award and thought it looked like he might switch forces to play with the Real Madrids, he signed with United in April of 2006 for a cool $31 million a year-he became the highest player in United's history. 2006 saw Cristiano win three of football's top accolades: the PFA Players' Player of the Year, the PFA Fans' Player of the Year, and the PFA Young Player of the Year. Cristiano has been know to be, shall we say, hot tempered, and his antics got him banned for three matches in the 2007-08 season. However, he told his coach that in the future he would not allow rival players to get him riled up. He was made team captain for United in March of 2008 and scored 35 goals for the season, breaking the 40-year-record of George Best who had 32 in 1967-1968. In spite of at one point leaning toward the Real Madrid team, Cristiano chose to remain with United for another year. He scored personal goals nos. 100 and 101 in November during a 5-0 victory over Stroke City; and it then seemed beyond the shadow of a doubt that Ronaldo is heading for football greatness that few players can ever dream of. Manchester United rewarded Ronaldo's season performance, which he ended with 446 total points, by giving him the first Ballon d'Or award since George Best's in 1968. There's no end in sight for Cristiano Ronaldo, much to his fans' delight. DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice. Nothing But Sports is a website dedicated to everything about sports providing millions of internet sports enthusiasts with great information and resources about sports. Visit us today at http://nothingbutsports.info. http://nothingbutsports.info/ |