103 Fun Facts About Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo's father named him after which American president?

Ronald Reagan: he was the US president at the time, and Ronaldo has said his father admired him.

For what fee did Sporting CP sign the 12-year-old Ronaldo after a three-day trial in 1997?

£1,500: joining Sporting's youth academy meant leaving his family behind and moving to Lisbon at the age of 12.

Why was the young Ronaldo expelled from school in Lisbon?

He threw a chair at a teacher: Ronaldo said the teacher had 'disrespected' him, and he was expelled for it.

Which heart condition, treated with laser surgery, threatened to end Ronaldo's career as a teenager?

Tachycardia: surgeons used a laser to fix it, and he left hospital hours after the operation and was back in training within days.

What did Ronaldo launch in August 2024 that became the fastest of its kind to reach a million subscribers?

A YouTube channel: he launched it by urging fans to 'SIUUUbscribe' as he posted his first video.

Against which club did Ronaldo play his first official match for Sporting, in August 2002, aged 17?

Inter Milan held Sporting 0–0 in that Champions League qualifier; a year later United's players, having faced him in a friendly, urged their manager to sign him.

What kind of goal was Ronaldo's first for Manchester United, in a 3–0 win over Portsmouth in November 2003?

A free kick doubled United's lead against Portsmouth, and by May he had scored the opening goal of the FA Cup final, his first trophy with United.

Ronaldo asked Manchester United for No. 28 in 2003 but got the No. 7 just vacated by which star?

David Beckham had just left the No. 7 behind, and Ronaldo said inheriting a shirt worn by United legends gave him extra motivation.

Which former United great called Ronaldo's debut 'undoubtedly the most exciting' he had ever seen?

The debut was a substitute appearance in a 4-0 win over Bolton in August 2003.

Whom did Ronaldo later describe as his 'father in sport'?

Ferguson had called him one of the most exciting young players he had ever seen after Sporting beat United in a 2003 friendly.

Which United teammate was sent off at the 2006 World Cup in an incident involving Ronaldo?

Wayne Rooney was sent off in the quarter-final; Ronaldo then said he could not stay in Manchester, but United refused to sell him.

What happened to Ronaldo's kick in the penalty shoot-out that decided the 2008 Champions League final?

He missed it, yet United still won: John Terry slipped and hit the post with a kick that would have won it, and Edwin van der Sar saved from Nicolas Anelka.

Who beat Ronaldo to the 2007 Ballon d'Or, a year before he won his first?

Kaká won the 2007 vote with Ronaldo second; two years later Real Madrid signed them both in the same summer.

Ronaldo's 40-yard strike against which club won FIFA's first goal-of-the-year award, in 2009?

Porto went out to that quarter-final strike, which sent United into a semi-final against Arsenal.

Some 80,000 fans filled the Bernabéu in July 2009 to see Ronaldo do what?

Be unveiled: he walked out in the No. 9 once worn by Alfredo Di Stéfano and told the crowd he had made his childhood dream a reality.

Whose departure freed up the No. 7 shirt for Ronaldo at Real Madrid in 2010?

Raúl ended 16 seasons at Real Madrid by signing for Germany's Schalke 04.

Ronaldo's extra-time header won the 2011 Copa del Rey final for Real Madrid against which club?

Barcelona lost 1–0 to that header from Ángel Di María's cross, and during the open-top bus parade Sergio Ramos dropped the trophy under the bus.

What was the nickname of Ronaldo and his two Real Madrid attacking partners from 2013?

BBC stood for Bale, Benzema and Cristiano, and in their first season together Real Madrid won the Champions League.

Real Madrid won La Décima in 2014 by beating which club 4–1, with Ronaldo scoring a 120th-minute penalty?

Atlético led until Sergio Ramos equalised in stoppage time, and Ronaldo's late penalty was a record 17th goal of that season's competition.

Ronaldo's four goals in a 2013 World Cup play-off knocked out which country?

Sweden lost 1–0 in Lisbon and then led 2–1 in Solna through two Zlatan Ibrahimović goals, before Ronaldo scored twice in two minutes.

What did Juventus fans do after Ronaldo scored a bicycle kick against their team in April 2018?

Applauded him: the Turin crowd rose to him, and three months later Juventus signed him from Real Madrid.

Ronaldo's fifth Champions League title, in 2018, came with a 3-1 final win over which club?

Liverpool were beaten by two goals from substitute Gareth Bale, one of them an overhead kick, after Karim Benzema's opener.

Ronaldo's first ever Champions League red card came in his first Champions League game for Juventus, against which club?

Valencia saw Ronaldo sent off midway through the first half, yet ten-man Juventus still won 2–0 through two Miralem Pjanić penalties.

Ronaldo rose higher than the crossbar to head a December 2019 winner against which club?

Sampdoria had equalised through Gianluca Caprari before that header, just before half-time, gave Juventus a 2–1 win.

Who replaced the benched Ronaldo against Switzerland at the 2022 World Cup and scored a hat-trick?

Gonçalo Ramos scored three in a 6–1 win, after coach Fernando Santos had criticised Ronaldo's reaction during the group game against South Korea.

Which club pulled out of the race to sign Ronaldo in 2021, clearing his way back to Old Trafford?

Manchester City dropped out as United moved into advanced talks, and within 24 hours United had agreed a deal with Juventus.

Which teammate gave up the No. 7 shirt when Ronaldo returned to Manchester United in 2021?

Edinson Cavani switched to 21, the number he wears for Uruguay.

Whose record for most Champions League appearances did Ronaldo break in September 2021?

Iker Casillas lost the record on a night Ronaldo also scored a stoppage-time winner against Villarreal.

Ronaldo left Manchester United by mutual agreement in November 2022 after an interview with which broadcaster?

Piers Morgan's interview, in which Ronaldo criticised the club's management, was followed within days by his departure.

Roughly what annual package, including commercial deals, was Ronaldo reported to receive on moving to Saudi Arabia in 2023?

€200 million a year was the reported total, the biggest salary in football, and his arrival opened a door that stars such as Benzema and Neymar followed.

Which Spanish striker came third when Ronaldo was named FIFA World Player of the Year for 2008?

Fernando Torres was third, behind Ronaldo, whose goals had fired Manchester United to the league and Champions League double.

An 18-year-old Ronaldo made his Portugal debut against Kazakhstan in 2003, replacing which star at half-time?

Luís Figo made way at half-time, and a year later the teenager scored twice at Euro 2004 as Portugal reached the final.

In the Euro 2016 final against France, what happened to Ronaldo in the 25th minute?

He was substituted off injured after a collision with Dimitri Payet, yet Portugal won 1–0 through Eder's extra-time goal for their first major title.

Ronaldo's winner against Morocco at the 2018 World Cup broke whose record as Europe's all-time top international scorer?

Ferenc Puskás's European record fell to that header, days after Ronaldo's hat-trick had earned Portugal a 3–3 draw with Spain.

Whose all-time men's international goalscoring record did Ronaldo break in 2021?

Ali Daei, who scored for Iran from 1993 to 2006, looked only matched at Euro 2020, but FIFA reportedly revised his total, so Ronaldo may already have passed him there.

Against which team did Ronaldo score the 2022 penalty that made him the first man to score at 5 World Cups?

Ghana were beaten 3–2 in that opener, but by the last 16 coach Fernando Santos had dropped Ronaldo from the starting line-up.

Whose Portuguese record of nine World Cup goals did Ronaldo pass with two against Uzbekistan in 2026?

Eusébio's record fell in a 5–0 win, but Portugal went out to Spain in the last 16, ending Ronaldo's World Cup career.

Where was Ronaldo presented with his fifth Ballon d'Or in 2017?

On the Eiffel Tower he collected his fifth award, and his second in a row, after helping Real Madrid win the Champions League and La Liga.

Ronaldo first performed his 'Siu' celebration in 2013 against which club?

Chelsea were the opponents in that 2013 pre-season final in the US; Ronaldo says the shout means 'yes' and just came out naturally when he scored.

In April 2026 Sportico ranked Ronaldo the third highest-paid athlete in history behind which two?

Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods led a ranking Sportico said was headed by Jordan's decades of Nike earnings.

What was renamed after Ronaldo in March 2017, months after Portugal's Euro triumph?

His hometown's airport took the name after regional leader Miguel Albuquerque announced it, though Portugal's government questioned the region's right to do so.

Where was Ronaldo's partner Georgina Rodríguez working when they met in 2016?

A Gucci store in Madrid was where they met, and ten years later they married in a civil ceremony in Cascais.

Where did Ronaldo announce, in July 2010, that he had become a father?

On Twitter, as well as Facebook and Real Madrid's website, he revealed his son's birth and said he had exclusive custody of the boy.

What did astronomers nickname 'CR7' in 2015, in a label inspired by Ronaldo?

A distant galaxy got the label, and ESO said it held strong evidence of the universe's first stars, but later studies found no evidence for them.

What was tsunami survivor Martunis wearing when found after 19 days, a sight that led Ronaldo to visit Aceh?

A Portugal football shirt made the boy famous; he was flown to Portugal, and a week after his visit Ronaldo went to Aceh to raise money for rebuilding.

What went up outside Ronaldo's museum in December 2014 in his honour?

A bronze statue: he flew home to join his family for the ceremony a day after helping Real Madrid win the Club World Cup in Morocco.

Speaking at the Oxford Union in 2013, FIFA president Sepp Blatter mocked Ronaldo for spending more on what?

The hairdresser jibe drew an angry reaction from Real Madrid, and Blatter wrote a letter of apology to the club within days.

Ronaldo's father saw combat during the Portuguese Colonial War in which country?

Angola was where José Dinis Aveiro saw combat; he later struggled with alcoholism and died of liver disease in 2005, when Ronaldo was 20.

Against which team did Ronaldo score his first international goal, in a Euro 2004 group defeat?

Greece beat Portugal 2–1 that day and beat them again in the final of the same tournament.

Which basketball star ranked second behind Ronaldo in ESPN's 2017 list of the world's most famous athletes?

LeBron James was second; ESPN left salaries out because pay caps would skew comparisons, counting endorsements, social media following and searches instead.

Who made Ronaldo a Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry in 2014?

Portugal's president, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, made the award at Belém Palace a week after Ronaldo's 2013 Ballon d'Or, calling him 'a symbol of Portugal globally'.

When Ronaldo scored twice in a 2–2 Clásico at Camp Nou in October 2012, who also scored twice?

Lionel Messi's second goal put the hosts ahead before Ronaldo equalised five minutes later.

A 2015 hat-trick against which club made Ronaldo the Champions League's all-time top scorer?

Shakhtar Donetsk had Taras Stepanenko sent off early in the second half, and two of Ronaldo's three goals then came from the penalty spot.

Which insect famously landed on Ronaldo's face during the Euro 2016 final at the Stade de France?

A moth was one of a swarm of migrating silver Ys that invaded the stadium that night, on an annual journey from North Africa to breed in Britain.

Which British actor narrated the Vimeo documentary Cristiano Ronaldo: The World at His Feet?

Benedict Cumberbatch voiced the Spanish-made film, directed by Tara Pirnia, which traced the forward's life and career while he was starring in La Liga.

Ronaldo became a playable character in 2025 in City of the Wolves, an entry in which fighting game series?

Fatal Fury publisher SNK put him on the base roster beside the DJ Salvatore Ganacci, and the casting drew a backlash from fans and critics who felt a footballer was out of place among its brawlers.

Ronaldo's mother said in 2021 that her son would have become what, had he not made it in football?

A bricklayer was her guess. He never studied beyond the 6th grade, having agreed with her at 14 to stop his education and bet everything on the game.

Which streaming service premiered I Am Georgina, the reality series about Ronaldo's partner, in 2022?

Netflix brought the show, titled Soy Georgina in Spanish, back for further seasons in 2023 and 2024; it follows Georgina Rodríguez, the footballer and their five kids.

In 2020 Ronaldo became the first footballer, and the third athlete still competing, to pass which career earnings mark?

$1 billion in career earnings arrived in 2020, and Forbes also ranked him the world's highest-paid athlete in both 2016 and 2017.

Under which French coach did Ronaldo's Real Madrid win three straight Champions League titles?

Zinedine Zidane was appointed in January 2016 after Rafael Benítez was dismissed, and became the first and only coach to win the competition three times in a row.

Which Manchester United manager did Ronaldo say he felt betrayed by before his 2022 exit?

Erik ten Hag had been using the 37-year-old as a substitute, and the falling-out ended with the club terminating the forward's contract that November.

In which Saudi city is Al-Nassr based, the club Ronaldo joined after leaving Manchester United?

Riyadh became his base from January 2023, when he made his Al-Nassr debut wearing the captain's armband in a 1–0 win over Al-Ettifaq.

Ronaldo was the first player to finish as league top scorer in England, Spain and which other country?

Italy completed the set when his 29 Serie A goals won the Capocannoniere award, and he later added a fourth country by topping the Saudi scoring charts.

Which substitute scored the extra-time goal that won Euro 2016 for Ronaldo's Portugal against France?

Eder struck low from 25 yards in the second half of extra time, and his coach summed it up afterwards by saying the ugly duckling had scored.

Which new UEFA competition did Ronaldo's Portugal win as hosts in 2019, becoming its first champions?

Nations League victory came with a 1–0 win over the Netherlands in the final, and the captain collected the top scorer award for the finals.

Ronaldo scored the only goal in his record 200th international appearance, in 2023, against which island country?

Iceland lost 1–0 at home in the Euro qualifier, on the night he became the first man in international football to bring up a double century of caps.

Ronaldo followed Pelé and Steven Gerrard in 2010 as the fourth footballer displayed at which London attraction?

Madame Tussauds put his waxwork on show during the build-up to that summer's World Cup, and a Madrid wax museum added a figure of its own three years later.

Ronaldo scored twice on his second debut at Old Trafford, in September 2021, against which club?

Newcastle had also been on the receiving end of his first hat-trick in English football, in a 6–0 win back in January 2008.

Ronaldo headed the opening goal of the 2004 FA Cup final, his first trophy in England, against which club?

Millwall were playing in their first major final, and player-manager Dennis Wise waited for the cross to reach him, letting the 19-year-old steal in to score.

In which city did Ronaldo score for Manchester United in the 2008 Champions League final?

Moscow's time zone meant a 22:45 local start, which made it the first Champions League final to start on one day and finish on the next.

Which Russian model was Ronaldo's partner from 2010 to 2015, before he met Georgina Rodríguez?

Irina Shayk first met the footballer in 2009, the year he moved to Spain, and after they split she began dating the American actor Bradley Cooper.

Which agent oversaw Ronaldo's 2003 move from Sporting CP to Manchester United and later record deals?

Jorge Mendes was reported to have made £4 million from the 2009 sale to Real Madrid alone, and found many of his clients by scouting youth teams across Portugal.

How tall is Cristiano Ronaldo, going by the height Real Madrid listed for him?

6 ft 1½ in (1.87 m) is only part of the story: he met one 2019 header for Juventus about 8 ft 5 in off the ground, higher than the crossbar.

Which Dutch striker clashed with Ronaldo at Manchester United, taking offence at the youngster's showboating?

Ruud van Nistelrooy had shared the scoring with him in the 2004 FA Cup final, netting twice, before the pair fell out during the winger's third season in England.

Ronaldo scored twice in Manchester United's 7–1 Champions League quarter-final rout of which club in 2007?

Roma held a 2–1 lead from the first leg, then conceded seven in the return, with the 22-year-old winger scoring the fourth and fifth goals.

Ronaldo later blamed his 2018 departure from Real Madrid on a lack of support from which club president?

Florentino Pérez had made him the world's most expensive player in 2009, in a summer when the president also brought in Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso.

What name is given to Ronaldo's dipping dead-ball strike, a technique developed by Brazil's Juninho Pernambucano?

Knuckleball shots became his set-piece signature, struck after a trademark stance with his legs planted far apart. Juninho himself scored 77 goals from dead balls.

What is the name of the La Liga top-scorer award that Ronaldo won three times with Real Madrid?

Pichichi Trophy honours are handed out by the newspaper Marca, and his first, in 2010–11, came as he became the first player to score 40 goals in a La Liga season.

Ronaldo shared the 2013–14 European Golden Shoe, the third of his four, with which rival striker?

Luis Suárez went on to match another of his feats, winning the award in two different leagues, the Premier League and La Liga.

Whose record of nine European Championship goals did Ronaldo overtake during Euro 2020?

Michel Platini scored all nine at a single tournament in 1984, while the man who passed him needed five tournaments and finished Euro 2020 on 14.

Which individual award did Ronaldo win at Euro 2020, even though Portugal went out in the last 16?

Golden Boot honours carried a sponsor's name, the Alipay Top Scorer award; his five goals and one assist also made him the first man to score at five European Championships.

Which coach guided Ronaldo's Portugal to their first major trophy at Euro 2016?

Fernando Santos stayed until 2022, when a dispute between the two ended with the captain dropped from the starting line-up for a World Cup knockout game.

Which charity named Ronaldo its Global Artist Ambassador in 2013 to help fight hunger and obesity?

Save the Children also benefited from CR7Selfie, a 2016 charity app that let fans pose for a photo with him in a choice of outfits.

What job did Ronaldo's father, José Dinis Aveiro, hold alongside his part-time work as a football kit man?

Municipal gardener was his day job for the council of the parish where the family lived, while his wife Dolores worked as a cook.

For which amateur club, where his father was the kit man, did the young Ronaldo play from 1992 to 1995?

Andorinha was only the start: he then spent two years with a bigger local side before a three-day trial earned the 12-year-old a move to the mainland.

Which shirt number did Ronaldo wear in his first season at Real Madrid, when the 7 was already taken?

No. 9 was on his back when club great Alfredo Di Stéfano presented the white shirt to him in July 2009, and he scored 33 goals in it that season.

Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez married in an August 2026 civil ceremony in which Portuguese coastal town?

Cascais has been a fashionable seaside resort since the 1870s, when Portugal's royal family began spending each September there. The couple wed about a year after getting engaged.

Ronaldo first scored five goals in a game in 2015, with an eight-minute hat-trick, against which La Liga club?

Granada were beaten 9–1 that April, and three days later he brought up his 300th goal for Real Madrid.

Which Romanian manager promoted the teenage Ronaldo to Sporting CP's first team in 2002?

László Bölöni gave him a debut at 17 in a Champions League qualifier, and within a year the winger had been sold to England for £12 million.

Ronaldo's great-grandmother Isabel da Piedade was born in which African island country, then under Portuguese rule?

Cape Verde's island of São Vicente was her birthplace, a family tie to Africa that sits alongside his father's army service there during the colonial war.

Ronaldo bought a 25% stake in which Spanish club in February 2026 through CR7 Sports Investments?

Almería joined his business portfolio while he was still playing in Saudi Arabia at the age of 41, making him a club owner before he had retired.

Ronaldo scored both goals to beat which Saudi rivals in the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup final?

Al-Hilal led 1–0 before his equaliser and extra-time winner turned the final around, even though his side ended it a player short. It was his first trophy in Saudi football.

Ronaldo took the men's record for international caps in 2023 from Bader Al-Mutawa, a forward from which country?

Kuwait forward Al-Mutawa had held the mark at 196 caps; the Portuguese drew level at the 2022 World Cup and went ahead in a Euro qualifier, scoring twice.

At a Euro 2020 press conference, Ronaldo removed bottles of which official sponsor and held up water?

Coca-Cola's market value fell that day and the gesture took the blame, but it was later found to have had nothing to do with it.

Which Nike boot line has Ronaldo worn since signing with the brand in 2003, in more than 60 versions?

Mercurial boots have been on his feet since he joined Nike as a teenager in 2003, the year he left Sporting for England.

What kind of contract did Nike give Ronaldo in 2016, rewarding a partnership that began in his teens?

A lifetime deal was announced with no terms disclosed, though he was reported to be earning £14 million a year from the brand at the time.

What name was given to Ronaldo's first signature Nike boot, released the year after he joined Real Madrid?

Safari boots took their animal print from a 1987 Nike running shoe, and he first wore them against Atlético Madrid in November 2010.

Ronaldo's CR7-branded hotels are a 50/50 partnership with which Portuguese hotel group?

Pestana opened the first of them in 2016 in his home city, right beside the museum that houses his trophies.

Which fashion label chose Ronaldo to front its underwear campaign in 2010, a year before Rafael Nadal?

Emporio Armani was only the start: three years later he brought out an underwear range of his own under the CR7 name.

Which motor-oil brand, a Ronaldo sponsor, produced the 2011 television film Ronaldo: Tested to the Limit?

Castrol put him through a series of physical and mental tests for the film, and the results drew scrutiny from media around the world.

With which cryptocurrency exchange did Ronaldo sign a multi-year deal in 2022 to promote NFT collections?

Binance, founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao, used the agreement to sell his non-fungible tokens through its own platform.

Ronaldo inspired a playable character called Chrono in which mobile battle royale game?

Free Fire has modelled several of its characters on real celebrities, among them the pop star Justin Bieber and the DJ Alok.

Before fronting EA Sports' FIFA 18, Ronaldo was the cover star of three editions of which rival football game?

Pro Evolution Soccer put him on its 2008, 2012 and 2013 covers, and the FIFA series later recorded his own voice to go with his goal celebration.