Christian Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Portugal national team. He has been described by UEFA as the most expensive player in history, with a transfer fee of €94.5 million (£85m/$117m) when he moved to Manchester United in 2003. At Real Madrid, he won La Liga twice, the Copa del Rey five times, and two UEFA Champions League titles before joining Italian side Juventus in 2018 for a fee of €120 million (£108m/$135m).
Ronaldo has scored over 800 senior career goals for club and country. His father, José de Sousa Ribeiro dos Santos Aveiro, was an amateur footballer who played four seasons as a professional at Benfica in Lisbon before being discovered by scouts while playing golf near their home city in northern Portugal. His mother, Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro—known as Dolores—was a civil engineer who had worked as a housekeeper for several years at Atlético Madrid’s home stadium Estádio da Luz until she was hired by Benfica in 1971.
Ronaldo began his football career at local club FC Porto from 1992 to 2003 after signing from youth team Acadé
