Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on February 5, 1985, in Madeira, Portugal to Maria

Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and José Diniz Aveiro. Cristiano has an elder brother, Hugo and two elder
sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia. His name was inspired by the former US-president, Ronald Reagan, whom
his father was influenced by.

The island of Madeira was also the place where Cristiano first learned to master his skills as a footballer.
He spent his early years playing for his local
team, Nacional, and by the time he turned
12 years old, he already made his name for
himself as one of Madeira's top footballers .
It wasn't long before he started to catch the
attention of other big Portuguese clubs.
Among Sporting was Benfica, a team
Cristiano and his father followed as a young
boy. However he eventually chose to play
for Sporting which was a team his mother
loved and followed as she was growing up,
to play with the likes of Figo was the dream
for her son.

He was then spotted by former Liverpool

manager, Gerard Houllier at the age of
sixteen but Liverpool had no intentions to
sign him at that time because they thought
he was too young and he needed more time
to develop his skills. However, in the
summer of 2003, when Sporting played
against Manchester United and defeated
them, Cristiano caught the attention of
Manchester United manager, Sir Alex
Ferguson.

Ronaldo became Manchester United's first-ever Portuguese player. Initially, he requested for the number
28 as his jersey number because he didn't feel that he could live up to the pressure of previous players
such as George Best and David Beckham who wore the number 7 jersey.
Twhe year 2006 to 2008 proved to be a rather controversial year for the star. In the 2006 World Cup,
Cristiano faced accusations regarding his sportsmanship. In a quarter-final match against England, he was
heavily criticized for sending of his club team mate, Wayne Rooney who was playing for the England
team. It wasn't too long until fans started accepting Cristiano again. In 2007, he won PFA Young Player of
the Year, PFA Player of the Year, PFA Fans' Player of the Year, Portuguese Footballer of the Year, FWA
Footballer of the Year, Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year and Manchester United's Players' Player of the
Year. The year 2008 also saw him taking back the PFA Player Of The Year Award for the second time
running. That same year, Ronaldo also had to deal with controversies regarding his club transfer to
Spanish giants, Real Madrid. He eventually chose to stay with Manchester United and stressed to the
public that he had no intentions of leaving the club.

Cristiano now lives with his cousin, Nuno and his brother in law Ze. When he is not on the field, he is a
very family oriented person. Growing up, when he was about to choose football as his career, he said
that it was very difficult for him as that would mean lesser time with his family, especially his mother,
whom he says play a major role in his life.During his free time, Cristiano enjoys cooking. He mentioned in
an interview that he usually cooks before he leaves for his soccer practice. Because he is constantly
training, Cristiano rarely has time to watch TV. If he does get the time to watch, he says he loves
watching one of the local Portuguese game show which is mostly about trivia questions. Cristiano is an
avid learner and he takes interest in learning new things everyday. Among Cristiano's biggest pet peeves
are smoking, people who don't make an effort and dishonesty.

When the tsunami hit South East Asia, Cristiano flew to Indonesia to help those in need. He auctioned
off a few stuff to help raise funds for charity. He hopes to get involved in more charity projects in the
future because he believes his star status will help him reach out to others for help.