Rise to Fame
In August 2003, Sporting CP unveiled their new stadium by humiliating Manchester United 3-1. Ronaldo was the one making United's professional players look like amateurs, and by the time the flight home landed, enough of them had lobbied Sir Alex Ferguson that the deal was done. He was 18, cost £12m, and asked for the No. 28 shirt before someone handed him the No. 7. Growing up in Madeira so poor that reportedly four kids shared a single room, with a father who died of alcohol-related organ failure when Ronaldo was 20, none of this was supposed to happen. At 15, he had heart surgery and was reportedly back training within days.
In the Spotlight
Moving to Al Nassr in January 2023 looked like a retirement party. It wasn't. He's chasing 1,000 career goals, sitting above 965, and has said his family has begged him to stop. The business operation running alongside the football is now its own thing: CR7 hotels in six cities, a hair clinic chain, a film studio with Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn announced in 2025. His net worth reportedly tops $1.1 billion. The 2022 Piers Morgan interview where he torched Manchester United ended his contract but barely dented the brand.
Side Notes
His father named him after Ronald Reagan, which nobody thought about much until he became a billionaire. He was expelled from school for throwing a chair at a teacher. At 15, heart surgery. Reportedly back training in days. He doesn't tattoo because he gives blood regularly, and reportedly sleeps in five 90-minute shifts. In April 2022, one of his newborn twins died. The image he sells is relentless optimism. The backstory is considerably messier.