Cristiano Ronaldo, born 5 February 1985, is considered the best player in the world and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
The Juventus forward turns 35 today. He has been vital for Juventus this campaign and is currently on a run of nine consecutive games with a goal.
As the Juventus star marks his birthday anniversary today, we are taking a look at his achievements in the round-leather game so far.
Here are his major wins:
1. Ronaldo has won five Ballons d’Or and four European Golden Shoes, both of which are records for an European player
2. He has won 29 trophies in his career, including six league titles, five UEFA Champions Leagues, one UEFA European Championship, and one UEFA Nations League.
3. Ronaldo holds the records for the most goals scored in the UEFA Champions League (128) and the joint-most goals scored in the UEFA European Championship (9).
4. He has scored over 700 senior career goals for club and country.
5. Ronaldo began his senior club career playing for Sporting CP, before signing with Manchester United in 2003, aged 18. After winning the FA Cup in his first season, he helped United win three successive Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, and the FIFA Club World Cup;
6. At age 23, Ronaldo won his first Ballon d’Or.
7. In 2009, Ronaldo was the subject of the then-most expensive association football transfer when he signed for Real Madrid in a transfer worth €94 million (£80 million).
8. At Real Madrid, Ronaldo won 15 trophies, including two La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey, and four UEFA Champions League titles, and became the club’s all-time top goalscorer.
9. After joining Madrid, Ronaldo finished runner-up for the Ballon d’Or three times, behind Lionel Messi— his perceived career rival— before winning back-to-back Ballons d’Or from 2013–2014 and again from 2016–2017.
10. After winning a third consecutive Champions League title in 2018, Ronaldo became the first player to win the trophy five times.
11. In 2018, he signed for Juventus in a transfer worth an initial €100 million (£88 million), the highest ever paid by an Italian club and the highest ever paid for a player over 30 years old. With the Italian outfit, he has won one Serie A and one Supercoppa Italiana.
12. Ronaldo was named the best Portuguese player of all time by the Portuguese Football Federation in 2015.
13. He made his senior debut for Portufal in 2003 at age 18, and has since earned over 160 caps, including appearing and scoring in ten major tournaments, becoming Portugal’s most capped player and his country’s all-time top goalscorer.
14. He assumed full captaincy in July 2008, leading Portugal to their first-ever triumph in a major tournament by winning Euro 2016, and received the Silver Boot as the second-highest goalscorer of the tournament.
15. He became the highest European international goalscorer of all-time in 2018.
16. Ronaldo was ranked the world’s highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2016 and 2017 and as the world’s most famous athlete by ESPN from 2016 to 2019.
17. As of January 2020, Ronaldo is also the most followed user on Instagram.
18. With earnings of €720 million (£615 million) from 2010 to 2019, he was ranked second in Forbes list of highest-paid athletes of the decade.
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