Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro considered one of the finest young talents in the game was born 5th February 1985 in Funchal, Medeira, Portugal. His number 7 position as winger in the Manchester United side (who signed him for £12.24 million) follows in the famous footsteps of George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham.
He made his MUFC debut as a 60th minute substitute against Bolton Wanderers played at Old Trafford in 2003 where the final whistle score was 4-0. Before playing for Manchester United he made 25 appearances for Sporting Lisbon (2001 - 2003) in his native Portugal. Youth clubs before this time included: CF Andorinha (1993 - 1995), CD Nacional (1995 - 1997) and Sporting Lisbon (1997 - 2001).
Ronaldo's international career started with Portugal v Kazakhstan in August 2003. Portugal won 1-0 at home. His career performance for domestic leagues since has been:
| Season | Club | Games | Goals | Yellow Cards | Red Cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002/2003 | Sporting Lisbon | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 2003/2004 | Man Utd | 15 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| 2004/2005 | Man Utd | 25 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 2005/2006 | Man Utd | 24 | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| 2006/2007 | Man Utd | 30 | 16 | 2 | 0 |
On 29th October 2005, Ronaldo scored Manchester United's 1000th goal in a 4-0 defeat against Middlesborough. In the same year, he was named FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year and ranked 20th in the FIFA Player of the Year. In an interview in April 2008, ex-international player Johan Cruijff said:
Ronaldo is better than George Best and Dennis Law who were two brilliant and great players in the history of United
On 12th January 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo become the first Premier League player to be named FIFA World Player of the Year. He was also the first Portuguese player to win that award since Luis Figo in 2001.