53 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.