Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Premier League club Manchester United and the Portuguese national team. With Manchester United, Ronaldo plays primarily as a right winger. He has also been used both in a central attacking role and as a second striker.

A winner of the 2007 English PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards, and third in the 2007 World Player of the Year award, Ronaldo is widely regarded as one of the most talented footballers of his generation. Ronaldo also won the 2008 English PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year, giving him back to back victories for both awards. Johan Cruijff said in an April 2, 2008 interview, "Ronaldo is better than George Best and Denis Law, who were two brilliant and great players in the history of United."

Ronaldo had previously played for Portugal at the 2002 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and at the U18 and U21 level. He eventually made his full international debut in August 2003, coming on in the second half of a 1-0 victory against Kazakhstan. Ronaldo scored Portugal's only goal in their 2-1 loss to Greece in the opening match of Euro 2004 and the first goal of the semi final against the Netherlands, which Portugal won 2-1. The final saw a rematch of the opening game of the tournament, with Greece once again emerging victorious. Even though Ronaldo could not add to his two goals, his performances at the tournament earned him a place in the team of the tournament.

Ronaldo subsequently represented Portugal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and was the second highest scorer in FIFA World Cup qualification in the European zone with 7 goals.

Ronaldo scored his first World Cup goal against Iran with a penalty kick. In the Round of 16, he left Portugal's 1-0 win over Netherlands injured after a high tackle by Khalid Boulahrouz. However, he returned in the next match in the quarter - final against England.

Ronaldo was named the national team captain for the first time in a friendly match against Brazil on February 6, 2007, a day after his 22nd birthday. This move was in honour of the Portuguese Football Federation president, Carlos Silva, who had died two days before. Scolari explained, "Mr. Silva asked me to make him captain as a gesture. He thought the English fans would give him a difficult time and this was a response. He is too young to be captain but Mr. Silva asked me and now he is no longer with us."

Ronaldo scored a total of 8 goals in Portugal's UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. On June 11, 2008, he scored the second goal for Portugal and provided an assist for the third goal scored by Ricardo Quaresma against the Czech Republic in Geneva, during the Group stages of UEFA Euro 2008 which ensured Portugal's qualification into the quarter finals of the competition. And in the 1/8 final against Germany, he performed well and created an assist for Nuno Gomes, but failed to save his team from being knocked out by Germany.