HomeBioCristiano Ronaldo: Net worth, Biography, Goals, Stats, and Achievements  

Cristiano Ronaldo: Net worth, Biography, Goals, Stats, and Achievements  

Cristiano Ronaldo’s net worth is bolstered by his talents on the field and his antics off it. On September 2nd 2012, he scored twice against Granada in a 3-0 win at the Bernabeu. The second was his 150th goal for Real Madrid. But he celebrated neither of them.

The reason he said afterwards was that he was “sad”. That week, Andres Iniesta won UEFA’s European Player award. Ronaldo had been forced to look on as another diadem eluded him. And this time, not even to Lionel Messi. But that wasn’t the reason he was sad. Well, what he didn’t say was what the reason really was.

After the game, Ronaldo appeared in the mixed zone, and as the media gathered, the obvious question was asked: “Why didn’t you celebrate?”

“Maybe I am a bit sad,” he replied.

“Why are you sad?”

“People know why.”

“Because of Iniesta?”

“No, not because of that. There are more important things. That’s the past. I’m OK. Any of the three of us could have won it. He deserves it.”

“Is it something to do with the club, then?”

“I’m not going to say anything else. People know why.”

“Personal or professional?”

“Professional.”

And so the interrogation continued.

“Why do you say the people know? Which people do you mean?”

“People inside the club. They know. I can’t say anything else.”

Ronaldo shifted as if to leave, but the questions continued.

“Is this a passing irritation? How do you feel?”

“I don’t know. We’ll see.”

“Why are you sad?”

“I’m not saying anything else.”

He left, saying nothing else. He has said little since, but he did not really need to. The word “sad” may have even been stronger than he intended, but he did not move to explain it. Indeed, he used the word again on his Facebook page, stating: “I have been accused of wanting more money, but one-day people will see that’s not the case.”

A few months later, he got a bumper wage increase and a new contract to boot!

We present Cristiano Ronaldo’s biography, sorry, net worth.

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“I won’t celebrate”. Cristiano Ronaldo vs Granada

Cristiano Ronaldo: Birth

Cristiano Ronaldo, in full Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, was born in Funchal – the largest city on the island of Madeira, Portugal – on February 5th 1985. His mother, Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, was a cook, and his father, José Dinis Aveiro, now deceased, was into community work.

Ronaldo is the youngest member of his family. He has one brother, Hugo, and two sisters, Elma and Liliana Catia. A part of Africa is in Ronaldo, as his great-grandmother Isabel da Piedade was from Cape Verde.

The name ‘Ronaldo’ is actually quite rare in Portugal, but former US Ronald Reagan was his father’s favourite actor, hence the name.

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Madeira: Cristiano Ronaldo’s birthplace

Ronaldo grew up in a working-class neighbourhood; his home was a small tin-roofed shack overlooking the ocean. But not anymore. The house Ronaldo was born and spent his childhood is now just a scrub of wasteland. The two-room property was demolished around 2005.

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Cristiano Ronaldo: Education

He did not go beyond secondary school. Legend has it that at age 14, he threw a chair at one of his teachers and was expelled. He eventually dropped out of school to pursue a career in football. His family, especially his mother, backed him up in his choice.

“If my family hadn’t supported me, I wouldn’t now be Cristiano Ronaldo, the professional footballer,” he said.

“My mum gave me that opportunity. My father and my sister said if you want this opportunity to improve your life, try it. Maybe another family would have said no, stay here, you’re young, stay here with your brothers, with us. It’s quite a difficult situation.

“I have to say my family gave me all their support. They’ve helped me a lot, in good times and bad times. That’s why I’m here now.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo’s Soccer Career

He joined his first club CF Andorinha when he was eight. You can’t call it nepotism, but it’s worth mentioning that his father was the equipment manager at the amateur club! There Ronaldo earned the name ‘Cry Baby’ because whenever his team lost, he got angry and let it flow.

The young Cristiano Ronaldo

In 1995, he signed with the local club, Nacional. But as far as poor decisions go, the one made by FC Maritimo’s board to snub the player already recognized as a phenomenon is right up there with General Sani Abacha withdrawing the Super Eagles from the 1996 AFCON.

Maritimo turned down the opportunity to sign Ronaldo because they weren’t prepared to meet the asking price of what, if you may ask? Tons of money? No. Five-year lucrative contract? No. Two playing kits! He was off to play for their archrival. There he won his first junior league title when he was 10.  

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Can you guess who’s looking away? Cristiano Ronaldo, of course!

After winning an under-12s league title with Nacional, Ronaldo signed for Sporting Lisbon. The club knew the precocious talent in their hands and treated him with kid gloves. They assigned special tutors like child psychologists to guide him through adolescence and doctors to monitor every aspect of his physical transformation.

“Cristiano is the fruition of what is a scientific process,” Marques De Freitas, Sporting’s representative in Madeira, said.

“For example, a study was done of the density of his bones to see what sort of rate of growth he was going to have.”

The doctors wanted to know how tall he was going to be so that he wasn’t overplayed at a young age which may have held him back (maybe Victor Agali would have had a more illustrious career if he had gone through this!).  

Sporting also helped Ronaldo off the pitch. His thick Madeiran dialect meant that some of the other youngsters would give him a hard time.

“Those difficulties helped to form a player with a great deal of resilience. They created his temperament and a unique person,” De Freitas said.

“Mama, I’ve scored,” Cristiano Ronaldo ‘says’

Ronaldo became the only player ever to play for Sporting’s under-16, under-17, under-18, B-team, and first team, all within one season.

In the summer of 2003, Ronaldo played so well in a friendly against Manchester United that the Red Devils’ stars begged Sir Alex Ferguson to sign him. He was offered to Barcelona for less than the €15 million Manchester United paid, but the Catalan club could not afford him, as they had already spent their transfer budget.

“When I started in Madeira, my mission was always to be a professional footballer, but I never dreamed I would be at Manchester United at 18 years old. It was amazing for me. But my ambition is always to play well,” he said.  

“I remember when I was young, the opportunities came along, and I took them. I moved to Nacional, and I played for a few years there – two years – and then I went to Sporting, and the opportunities kept coming. And when I arrived in Manchester, everything happened very quickly.”

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Manchester United: 2003-2009

Ronaldo was the first-ever Portuguese player in the English club. He was given the number 7 jersey, which had been worn by players such as George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, and David Beckham.

“The famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honour,” he said.

Ronaldo won three Premier League titles at Manchester United, an FA Cup, two Carling Cups, and the Champions League. He netted 118 goals in 292 games. In the league, he scored 84 goals in 196 games (0.43 goals per match).

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Cristiano Ronaldo and fellow Red Devil, Wayne Rooney

“I always try to score goals and help the team by providing assists,” he said.

“I don’t think I have to score in every game. If you think like that, you won’t score. Goals come naturally with your talent and your quality, so I don’t worry about it. If you and the team play well, goals come naturally.”

Here’s a breakdown of his Premier League goals:

Goals – 84

Headed goals – 9

Goals with the right foot – 47

Goals with the left foot – 9

Penalties scored – 11

Freekicks scored – 9

Ronaldo made 69 assists, with 34 of those assists in the Premier League.

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Ronaldo’s individual achievements with Manchester United

1 Golden boot (31 Goals)- 2007-08

2 Premier League Player of the Season – 2006-07, 2007-08

1 Ballon d’Or winner – 2008

1 Puskas Award – 2009

Real Madrid: 2009-2018

5 Alive: Cristiano Ronaldo

On June 11th 2009, Manchester United accepted an unconditional offer of £80 million from Real Madrid for Ronaldo after he had expressed his desire to leave the club. He signed a six-year contract, which made him the most expensive footballer.

Ronaldo scored 451 times in 438 competitive appearances with the club (averaging over a goal a game). He won four Champions League crowns, three Club World Cups and UEFA Super Cups apiece, two La Liga titles, a pair of Copas del Rey and two Spanish Super Cups.

This list of honours is completed with four Ballons d’Or, three Golden Shoe awards, and two The Best awards, whilst he was named UEFA Best Player in Europe three times and landed the Pichichi crown thrice, too.

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A spell full of records

During his nine seasons as a Real Madrid player, Ronaldo secured several impressive records.

They include the club’s all-time leading goal scorer, the leading scorer in European Cup history (he scored 105 goals for Real Madrid in the Champions League), the club’s all-time leading goal scorer in La Liga (312), the highest number of games in which a player has scored three or more times in La Liga history (34); and the most goals to have been scored by a Real Madrid player in a single season (61).

He also clinched the record for the most goals scored in a Champions League campaign (17) and ended the competition as the leading goal scorer on six occasions.

Playing in a central role since the 2016-2017 season has conserved his energy. Probably prolonging his career.

“I look after my body because it’s a very important part of my life, but I don’t worry about it too much,” he said.

“I don’t eat chips or things like that, but mostly I eat what I want. I don’t have a problem with my weight – my genes are good, But I do work at it, yes!”

Juventus: 2018-2021

Juventus
The Old Lady’s new hero: Cristiano Ronaldo

Despite months of negotiation to sign a new Real Madrid contract, on July 10th 2018, Ronaldo signed a four-year contract with the Italian club Juventus.

He completed a €100 million transfer, which included an additional €12 million in other fees and solidarity contributions to his youth clubs. The transfer was the highest ever for a player over 30 years old. It was also the highest paid by an Italian club.

He enjoyed a three-year spell at Juventus, scoring 101 goals in 134 games. In 98 Serie A matches, he scored 81 goals. Ronaldo’s tally across three seasons in read 21, 31, and 29. He also scored 14 goals in the Champions League. Ronaldo won five trophies with Juventus, including two Serie A honours, besides one Coppa Italia.

In the 2019-20 season, Ronaldo became the fastest player ever to score 50 goals in Serie A history. He attained the feat in just games. In the same season, Ronaldo scored a record 37 goals, which is the most a player has netted in one season for Juventus.

Also, in the 2019-20 season, he equalled the record of former Juventus forward Felice Borel of scoring 31 goals in a season.

In May 2021, Ronaldo became the fastest player in the club’s history to reach 100 goals. He achieved the feat in 131 games. He also scored in 11 successive Serie A matches equaling the record of Fabio Quagliarella for Sampdoria in 2018-19 and Gabriel Batistuta for Fiorentina during the 1994-95 season.

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Manchester United: 2021-2022

On August 27th 2021, United announced they had agreed with Juventus to re-sign Ronaldo. The transfer was for an initial £12.85 million, with a two-year contract plus an optional year. He was handed the number 7 shirt after Edinson Cavani agreed to switch to 21.

He finished the season with 24 goals in all competitions, 18 of those goals being in the Premier League, making him the third-highest goal scorer in the league behind Golden Boot winners Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min.

He was named in the Premier League Team of the Year and won United’s Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award. Manchester United finished in a disappointing sixth place, and for the first time since 2010, Ronaldo didn’t win a club trophy.

Ronaldo in Manchester United
Forlorn look: Cristiano Ronaldo regrets his move back to Old Trafford

Ronaldo’s second stint with the club proved disappointing. He expressed growing dissatisfaction with the club before the commencement and during the season. In November 2022, his contract was ended by “mutual agreement”. The following month, Ronaldo signed with the Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr.

Al Nassr: 2022 to date

AL-Nassr
The new Sheik in town: Cristiano Ronaldo

On December 30th 2022, Al Nassr agreed for Ronaldo to join the club effective January 1st 2023, signing a contract until 2025. On January 19th, he played his first game for the club in an exhibition game featuring a combined team of Riyadh’s Al Nassr and Al Hilal players against Paris Saint-Germain. Ronaldo scored twice in a 5–4 loss.

As club captain, he made his competitive debut for Al Nassr on January 22nd, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–0 win over Al-Ettifaq. On February 9th, Ronaldo scored four goals in a 4–0 win over Al Wehda. His first goal was his 500th career league goal.

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International career

Cristiano Ronaldo made his international debut on August 20th 2003, against Kazakhstan in a friendly. He scored his first international goal on June 12th 2004, during a UEFA Euro 2004 group stage match against Greece.

Since then, he has become the current all-time record goal scorer for Portugal and the highest overall international marksman in history, having scored 118 goals in 196 appearances.

El Capitano Cristiano Ronaldo!

In 2016, he helped his country win the European Championship. It was Portugal’s first major international tournament title. Although he only played sparingly in the final because of a knee injury that he had sustained early in the match, his impact was felt from the touchline as an accidental coach.  

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Net worth

Nine out of the top 10 Google searches on Cristiano Ronaldo were on his net worth. Enquiries like Is Ronaldo a billionaire; Cristiano Ronaldo net worth Forbes; Cristiano Ronaldo net worth $1 billion; Cristiano Ronaldo net worth in rupees; Cristiano Ronaldo net worth in dollars, etc. are made about the Portuguese 24/7.

Well, no one except his management company can really claim to have a bulletproof idea of what Ronaldo is worth. Thankfully, we can hide behind estimation and say his net worth is around $500 million.

He was ranked third on Forbes’ 2022 list of the highest-paid athletes in the world, with earnings of $115 million (£93m). It was a reduction of $5m in 2021. Ronaldo was behind Lionel Messi, who topped the list, and NBA icon LeBron James, who was second. However, he was ahead of Neymar, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Roger Federer.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s salary

Ronaldo’s contract with Al-Nassr gives him a yearly salary of $215 million (£177m). That breaks down to approximately £56 per second, £3,366 per minute, £20,200 per hour, £485,000 per day, £3.4 million per week, and £14.75 million per month. This makes him among the most lucratively rewarded players in the world.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s sponsorship deals

Face of Nike: Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo’s most significant sponsorship deal is with Nike. The agreement with the sportswear giant is said to be the second-lifetime contract they have handed out after the one offered to three-time NBA champion LeBron James.

Aside from Nike, Ronaldo has had endorsement deals with the likes of Tag Heuer, Armani, Egyptian Steel, Clear, Herbalife, Italia Independent, PokerStars, and Castrol. More recent partnerships include LiveScore, MEO, ZujuGP, Uniecampus, and Therabody.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s other businesses

Ronaldo has created his own brand around the CR7 image, besides representing major international labels. His underwear line is the pivot, but his interest has also grown to include various other clothing, leisure and home products.

In addition, Ronaldo has several hotels – named Pestana CR7 – in Portugal: one in the capital, Lisbon, and another in Funchal, his hometown. Pestana CR7 can also be found in Marrakech, New York, and Madrid.

In a partnership with Crunch, a US health company, Ronaldo expanded into gyms in 2016. The first outlet under the ‘CR7 Fitness’ opened in Madrid.

In March 2019, he launched a hair transplant clinic in Spain called Insparya. It’s highly unlikely that Taribo West is on their client list, but the former Super Eagles defender wouldn’t mind a paid session as a gift on his next birthday!

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Cristiano Ronaldo’s social media followers

As of January 2023, Ronaldo’s overall following across TFI – Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram – was over 700 million. Of this number, 100 million plus are following him on Twitter.

On Instagram, Ronaldo leads the way as the most-followed person with 535 million followers. He’s second behind the official Instagram account.

Ronaldo’s Facebook page is by far the most popular of any athlete on the platform. He has over 160 million followers, more than Messi’s 113 million.

Conclusion

Cristiano Ronaldo’s net worth is boosted by being a formidable athlete on the pitch. Originally a right-winger, the 6 feet 1 inch has developed into a forward with a free-reined attacking style. His goals and achievements have made him one of the most recognizable players on earth. He knows the low point and prime point of this.

“All over the world, people know me. They recognize me,” he said.

“One aspect is pleasant. It is nice. But some aspects are not so good. People watch everything you do. You have to stay on your guard all the time. It’s quite difficult because of that. But I have to think about my career. This is the most important thing for me.

“I don’t care what people say about things outside of football. This doesn’t matter. About football, yes, I care because that is what I love to do. Football is my career, and it’s always nice when people say nice things about you, but, to be honest, it’s not difficult to be famous.”

And this makes it not unusual to see nine searches out of 10 asking, “Is Ronaldo a billionaire?”  

Victor Akhidenor
Victor Akhidenor
I’m an award-winning journalist with over 10 years of experience in the industry. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in Media and Communication. I also have a certificate in Media Enterprise from Pan-Atlantic University as well as a D Diploma in football coaching. Aside from the media, I have work experience in insurance claims processing, marketing, credit analysis, and corporate communications in the banking sector. My hobbies are watching sports activities, reading and writing, carrying out research, traveling, and photography.