Saturday, January 31, 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo--Wunderkind of Footballers

By Denise I Smithson

Born February 5, 1985, winger Cristiano Ronaldo of the English Premier League club Manchester United signed a $21.24 million contract in 2003 at the age of 18. In that year he was given his first cap while he played for the Portuguese. Cristiano went to the final of the UEFA Euro in 2004, where he delighted his fans when he scored the first international goal of his career.

Ronaldo was on the global rise scoring often at both club and international levels and received his first Premier League title in the 2006-07 season. As the Premier League's top scorer, Ronaldo was named the FIFPro World Player of the Year in 2008. Also in 2008, Ronaldo achieved the Ballon d'Or award-quite the achievement for such a young soccer player.

Maria Dolores dos Santos Averio and Jose Dinis Averiogave named Christiano "Ronaldo" after then-United States President Ronald Regan--but it wasn't for his leadership skills, rather it was for his acting skills which made him his father's favorite actor. Ronaldo also has two older sisters and a younger brother.

Ronaldo began playing for the amateur team C.F. Andorinha when he was just eight years old. Local football club CD Nacional took him in 1995, and for them he played so amazingly well that the Sporting CP club let him play for them for three days and afterward they signed him to a contract for an unknown signing bonus. At Portugal's Sporting CP, Cristiano attended the Alcochete, a renowned footballer's academy. He would go on to become the only footballer in history to play for the Sporting CP club's U-16, U-17, U-18, and B-teams. After much pleading from many of his players and after seeing his talent for himself, Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson signed him to a contract. He became an instant hit with the fans.

Cristiano was now backed by a talented team as the first ever Portuguese player to sign with an English team. He asked for jersey #23, rather than take the #7 tied associated with David Beckham and Eric Cantona. Cristiano wanted to be his own player and that's exactly what he was from the start. He made his debut in the 60th minute as a substitute when his team was winning 4-0 over the Bolton Wanderers. In 2005, Christiano scored United's thousandth Premier League goal in October of that year, and in that same year fans voted for him to enter his first FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year awards.

In 2006, Ronaldo attained consecutive Barclays Player of the Month awards, only the third player in history to do this since Dennis Bergkamp in 1997 and Robbie Fowler in 1996. Cristiano's 50th career goal with Manchester United came against rivals Manchester City F.C. when they claimed their first Premier League title in just four years. Again, Ronaldo was voted the FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year Award and thought it looked like he might switch forces to play with the Real Madrids, he signed with United in April of 2006 for a cool $31 million a year-he became the highest player in United's history.

The prestigious PFA Players' Player of the Year, the PFA Fans' Player of the Year, and the PFA Young Player of the Year awards were taken by Cristiano for the 2006-2007 season. However, Ronaldo has been known to rave up with some antics, and these got him banned for three matches during the 2007-08 season. But, he was allowed to play again after he discussed with his coach no longer letting opposing team players get his ire up. He still wound up scoring a record-setting 35 goals for the season; George Best had 32 in 1967-1968. Ronaldo was made team captain in March of 2008.

Just as it seemed Cristiano might head for the Real Madrid team, he remained committed to United for another year. Scoring is 100th and 101st goals in United's 5-0 win over Stroke City in November, it seemed Ronaldo was headed for greatness, something most footballers only dream of. To end his season, Ronald accepted Manchester United's first Ballon d'Or award since George Best won it in 1968. The magnificent Ronaldo finished his season with 446 points-quite the accomplishment for such a young player. We await the 2008-09 season to see more ways Cristiano will wow his fans all over the world.

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