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Cristiano Ronaldo Bio

Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aviero is considered to be one of the finest professional football (soccer) players today. He currently plays with Manchester United F.C.

Ronaldo was born on February 5, 1985, in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. He has one brother, Hugo, and two sisters, Elma and Katia. His father, Jose, chose Ronaldo as his son’s middle name after actor and former president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. The name holds no political meaning, Jose simply liked Reagan as an actor.

Ronaldo began developing his love for football at the age of three when he began casually kicking the ball around. By age six he was hooked. He began playing for the Amateur team, Andorinha, at the age of eight. By the time he had turned ten, Ronaldo was already developing a reputation and was being scouted by the top two teams in Madeira: CS Maritimo and CD Nacional. Ronaldo ended up going with Nacional and the following season proved to be very successful, winning the title for Nacional.

After his first season with Nacional, Ronaldo was sent on a trial to Sporting Lisbon, who ended up signing the eleven-year-old for an undisclosed sum. Once there, Ronaldo began training with fellow youth players at the Alcochete (also known as the football factory), where he received first-class training. His debut on the Sporting Lisbon team was against Moreirense, and Ronaldo scoring two goals in the game. He went on to play at the UEFA Under 17 Championships.

By the time he reached the age of sixteen, Ronaldo had begun to attract international attention. In 2003, Sporting Lisbon beat Manchester United 3 to 1 with Ronaldo putting on a great performance. After the game, team members for United were impressed with his skills and said that they would rather him playing with them rather than against them in the future.

He was signed to Manchester United to the tune of 12.24 million pounds, replacing David Beckham who had transferred to Real Madrid. His first international match for the team was against Kazakhstan, where he scored the only goal.

Ronaldo also represented Portugal at the 2004 summer Olympics.

Although Ronaldo prefers to keep his private life separate from his professional life, he has been linked with Spanish TV anchorwoman, Merche Romero, a divorcee nine years his senior. They reportedly split in September of 2006. He has also dated model Jordana Jardel, who is the sister of the Brazilian football player, Mario Jardel.

Ronaldo is also committed to charity work. In June of 2005, Ronaldo flew out an eleven-year-old Tsunami survivor and his father to one of the World Cup qualifiers and covered all of their traveling expenses. Subsequently, he talked the rest of the team into pitching in and purchasing a home for the father and son in their native Indonesia.

After he was finished competing in the World Cup qualifiers, Ronaldo flew to Indonesia himself to see what he could do to help. He ended up meeting both the Vice President of the Indonesian Republic and the Vice President of East Timor and was able to raise 66,000 pounds by auctioning off some of his sports gear.

YUDDY