Cristiano Ronaldo Birthday Special: Interesting Facts About the Five-Time Ballon d’Or Winner

A footballing legend on his own terms, Cristiano Ronaldo turns 35 on this day (February 05, 2020). Born at Funchal, a town in the Madeira Islands of Portugal, Ronaldo had craved his path to become one of the greatest footballers to have walked the earth, let alone this generation. He is a five-time Ballon d'Or winner and holds numerous goal-scoring records to his name, including the highest goal-scorer in UEFA Champions League, European Championships, FIFA Club World Cup and the National League Finals. He also holds the record of scoring the most number of goals in a single Champions League season. On his 35th birthday, take a look at some interesting facts about Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano Ronaldo Named the MVP Player of the Month in Serie A 2019-20.

Born to a gardener and part-time kit-man, Ronaldo was interested in football from a young age. His father, who was a former footballer, introduced Ronaldo to football at a very young age. Ronaldo started playing for amateur club Andorinha where his father worked as a part-time kit-man before moving to Sporting Club de Portugal three years later. At Sporting Club de Portugal, Ronaldo caught the attention of the world and eventually signed for Manchester United for a world-record transfer fee for a teenager at that time. He spent six years at United before moving to Real Madrid for another world record fee and eventually to Juventus in 2018 for an estimated transfer fee of over $100 million. Cristiano Ronaldo Scripts History After His Hat-Trick Against Cagliari, Becomes the Only Player To Have Hit Hat-Tricks in Italy, England, Spain & World Cup.

• Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born in Sao Pedro, Funchal, Portugal to Jose Dinis Aveiro and Maria on February 05, 1985
• Ronaldo started his professional footballing career by playing for amateur team Andorinha where his father was the kit man
• As a child, Ronaldo was diagnosed with a racing heart condition and had to undergo surgery to continue playing football
• Cristiano Ronaldo was expelled from school at the age of 14 after throwing a chair at a teacher, who insulted him
• Ronaldo in her early age was nicknamed “cry-baby” and “little baby” for resorting to crying over little things and for being quick
• Manchester United paid Sporting Club de Portugal £12.24 million to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, which was a record transfer fee for a player his age at that time
• Cristiano Ronaldo was the first-ever Portuguese player to sign for Manchester United
• He is also the first player from the Premier League to win the FIFA World Player of the Year
• Ronaldo is the highest-scoring European player and needs one goal to become footballer ever to score a century on international goals
• Ronaldo (1032) is one of only 29 players to have made over 1000 career appearances in football
• At 33 years and 130 days, Ronaldo is the oldest player ever to score a World Cup Hat-trick when he did so against Spain in 2018
• Ronaldo holds record for most goals in Champions League (128), European Championships (9), FIFA Club World Cup (7) and Nations League Finals (3)
• There are only two competitions in world football that Ronaldo has played but not scored a goal which is the Community Shield and Europa League
• In his hometown of Funchal in Madeira Islands of Portugal, Ronaldo has a museum named after him called Museu CR7
• A university in Canada offers a Sociology course on Cristiano Ronaldo as part of its curriculum
• In 2012, Ronaldo sold off his European Golden Boot for $1.5 million to fund schools for children in Gaza
• Ronaldo once donated his bone marrow to help the son of his national teammate, Carlos Martins

Ronaldo has so far played over a 1000 games across his career and scored over 700 goals. He needs one goal to become the first European and only second footballer to score a century of international goals. Ronaldo has lifted the UEFA Champions League trophy five times, four of which came for Real Madrid. He also guided Portugal to the EURO Cup and the UEFA Nations League last year.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 04, 2020 11:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).