Christiano Rolando
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, born 5 February 1985 and known worldwide as Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Real Madrid and captains the Portugal national team. By the age of 22, Ronaldo had received the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations. The following year, in 2008, he won his first Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He followed this up by winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2013. He also won the 2013–14 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. In January 2014, Ronaldo scored his 400th senior career goal for club and country aged 28. Often rated by some in the sport to be currently the best player in the world, Ronaldo is the first Portuguese football player in history to win two FIFA/Ballons d'Or, and the second footballer to win three European Golden Shoe awards. With Manchester United and Real Madrid, Ronaldo has won three Premier Leagues, one La Liga, one FA Cup, two Football League Cups, two Copas del Rey, one FA Community Shield, one Supercopas de España, two UEFA Champions Leagues, one UEFA Super Cup and one Club World Cup. Ronaldo began his career as a youth player for Andorinha, where he played for two years, before moving to C.D. Nacional. In 1997, he then made a move to Portuguese giants Sporting CP. In 2003 he caught the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who signed him for £12.2 million (€15 million). In 2004, he won his first trophy, the FA Cup. In 2007, Ronaldo was the first player in England to win all four main PFA and FWA awards. In 2007 and 2008, Ronaldo was named FWA Footballer of the Year. In a 2014 UEFA poll, he was named the greatest goal scorer to play in the UEFA Champions League. Ronaldo holds the record for most goals scored in a single UEFA Champions League season, having scored 17 goals in the 2013–14 season. He is third in the competition's top scorers of all time, only trailing Raúl and Messi. He is the first footballer to score against every team in a single season in La Liga. Ronaldo became the world's most expensive player when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 in a transfer worth £80 million. Ronaldo's contract with Real Madrid, under the terms of which he is paid €21 million per year, makes him the highest-paid footballer in the world, and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion.
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Engagement in Cultural Diplomacy[edit]
Humanitarian Causes and Philanthropic Donations[edit]
Cristiano Ronaldo collaborates with many humanitarian causes and donates to many different organizations. Ronaldo is a crucial supporter of foundations such as, ‘Save the Children’ where since 2013 he is a Global Artist Ambassador and supports the fight against child hunger and obesity and stands for the promotion of physical activity and healthy eating as a necessary part of everyone’s lifestyle. It was in 2004 when following the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami Ronaldo visited Indonesia to raise funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction after being moved by the television images showing an eight-year-old boy wearing Cristiano Ronaldo’s No 7 Portuguese football shirt who was stranded for 19 days after his family was killed. When he won a libel suit against a British tabloid (The Sun) in 2008 he donated the money to a charity in the Portuguese archipelago where he was born. A year later he gave more than $165,000 to fund a cancer centre at the Portuguese hospital that treated his mother. In support of the victims of the 2010 Madeira flood, Ronaldo pledged to play in a charity match in Madeira between the Primeira Liga club FC Porto and players from Madeiran based clubs Marítimo and Nacional. In 2012, Ronaldo and his agent paid for specialist treatment for a nine-year-old Canarian boy with apparently terminal cancer. In November 2012, Ronaldo sold the golden boot he had won in 2011 for €1.5 million and gave the money to fund schools for children in Gaza. In December 2012, Ronaldo joined FIFA's '11 for Health' programme to raise awareness amongst kids of how to steer clear of conditions including drug addiction, HIV, malaria and obesity. In March 2013, Ronaldo agreed to be the ambassador for The Mangrove Care Forum in Indonesia, an organisation aiming to raise awareness of mangrove conservation. In the spring of 2014, Ronaldo received a request for a donation of football boots and a shirt to help raise $83,000 for a 10-month-old in need of an operation. Ronaldo did not only donate the items, but also paid for the operation.
Notable Actions[edit]
Cristiano Ronaldo has supported the following charities listed on this site: Aid Still Required, Cahonas Scotland, Save the Children, UNICEF, World Vision. Additionally, he has supported the following causes: Abuse, Adoption, Fostering, Orphans, AIDS & HIV, Cancer, Children, DisasterRelief, Education, Health, Human Rights, Poverty, Slavery & Human Trafficking
External Links[edit]
Cristiano Rolando Official Website
