Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and captains the Portugal national team.

Ronaldo began his senior club career playing for Sporting CP, before signing with Manchester United in 2003, aged 18, winning the FA Cup in his first season. He would also win three consecutive Premier League titles, the Champions League, and the FIFA Club World Cup; at age 23, he won his first Ballon d'Or. Ronaldo was the subject of the then-most expensive association football transfer when he signed for Real Madrid in 2009 in a transfer worth €94 million (£80 million), where he won 15 trophies, including two La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey, and four Champions Leagues, and became the club's all-time top goal-scorer.

He won back-to-back Ballons d'Or in 2013 and 2014, again in 2016 and 2017, and was runner-up three times behind Lionel Messi, his perceived career rival. In 2018, he signed for Juventus in a transfer worth an initial €100 million (£88 million), the most expensive transfer for an Italian club and the most expensive transfer for a player over 30 years old. He won two Serie A titles, two Supercoppe Italiana, and a Coppa Italia, before returning to Manchester United in 2021.

He was considered to be the best player globally and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo has won five Ballon d'Or awards and four European Golden Shoes, the most by a European player. He has won 32 trophies in his career, including seven league titles, five UEFA Champions Leagues, one UEFA European Championship, and one UEFA Nations League.

Ronaldo holds the records for most appearances (183), most goals (140), and assists (42) in the Champions League, most goals in the European Championship (14), most international goals by a male player (115), and most international appearances by a European male (186). He is one of the few players to have made over 1,100 professional career appearances and has scored over 800 official senior career goals for club and country.