Born on February 5, 1985, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro GOIH ComM is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays forward for Premier League club Manchester United and captains the Portugal national team. Ronaldo is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and has won the most European player accolades with four European Golden Shoes and five Ballon d'Ors (note 3). In his career, he has won 32 trophies, including the UEFA European Championship, five UEFA Champions Leagues, and seven league championships. Ronaldo has the records for most Champions League appearances (183), goals (140), and assists (42) as well as the most international goals (117) and appearances by a European player (14) and European Championship goals (14). (191).

Before joining Manchester United in 2003 at the age of 18, Ronaldo started his professional career as a senior player with Sporting CP. That season, he won the FA Cup. At the age of 23, he won his first Ballon d'Or. He would then go on to win the Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup, and three straight Premier League championships. When Ronaldo joined Real Madrid in 2009 for a transfer fee of €94 million (£80 million), it was the then-most expensive association football transfer ever. Ronaldo went on to win 15 trophies at the club, including four Champions Leagues, two La Liga championships, two Copa del Rey crowns, and two Copa del Reys. He also became the club's all-time leading scorer. In 2013 and 2014, as well as in 2016 and 2017, he won back-to-back Ballons d'Or awards. He also finished second three times to Lionel Messi, a player he considered to be a rival for his career. It was the most expensive transfer for an Italian club and for a player over 30 in 2018 when he joined Juventus in a deal worth an initial €100 million (£88 million). Before joining Manchester United again in 2021, he won two Serie A championships, two Supercoppe Italiana, and a Coppa Italia.

Ronaldo is Portugal's most-capped player with 190 caps after making his international debut for Portugal in 2003 at the age of 18. He is also the country's all-time leading scorer with more than 100 goals at the international level. Ronaldo has participated in and scored goals at 11 major competitions. At the 2004 Euros, where he helped Portugal go to the final, he netted his first goal for his country. In July 2008, he became the national team's captain. The Portuguese Football Federation named Cristiano Ronaldo the greatest Portuguese player of all time in 2015. He led Portugal to their first major tournament victory at Euro 2016 the following year, and as the second-highest goal scorer in the competition, he was awarded the Silver Boot. In addition, he helped them win the inaugural UEFA Nations League in 2019 and went on to win the Golden Boot for most goals scored at Euro 2020.

Ronaldo, one of the most marketable and well-known athletes in the world, was named the highest-paid athlete in the world by Forbes in 2016 and 2017 and the most renowned athlete in the world by ESPN from 2016 to 2019. He was listed by Time as one of the top 100 global influencers in 2014. He is the third athlete to collect $1 billion in career earnings in sports, and the first football player.