Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on 5 February 1985 in the São Pedro

parish of Funchal, the capital of the Portuguese island of Madeira, and grew up in
the nearby parish of Santo António.[8][9] He is the fourth and youngest child of
Maria Dolores dos Santos Viveiros da Aveiro, a cook, and José Dinis Aveiro, a
municipal gardener and part-time kit man.[10] His great-grandmother on his father's
side, Isabel da Piedade, was from the island of São Vicente, Cape Verde.[11] He has
one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia "Katia".[12]
His mother revealed that she wanted to abort him due to poverty, his father's
alcoholism, and having too many children already, but her doctor refused to perform
the procedure.[13][14] Ronaldo grew up in an impoverished Catholic Christian home,
sharing a room with all his siblings.[15]

As a child, Ronaldo played for Andorinha from 1992 to 1995,[16] where his father
was the kit man,[10] and later spent two years with Nacional. In 1997, aged 12, he
went on a three-day trial with Sporting CP, who signed him for a fee of £1,500.[17]
He subsequently moved from Madeira to Alcochete, near Lisbon, to join Sporting's
youth academy.[17] By age 14, Ronaldo believed he had the ability to play semi-
professionally and agreed with his mother to cease his education to focus entirely
on football.[18] With a troubled life as a student[19] and living in Lisbon area
away from his Madeiran family, he didn't complete schooling beyond the 6th grade.
[20][21] While popular with other students at school, he had been expelled after
throwing a chair at his teacher, who he said had "disrespected" him.[18] One year
later, he was diagnosed with tachycardia, a condition that could have forced him to
give up playing football.[22] Ronaldo underwent heart surgery where a laser was
used to cauterise multiple cardiac pathways into one, altering his resting heart
rate.[23] He was discharged from the hospital hours after the procedure and resumed
training a few days later.[24]