Ronaldo was born in Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira, the youngest of four children of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and Jose Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener and kit man for a local football club. He grew up in a modest household and joined Andorinha, his father’s club, before moving to Nacional and then to Sporting CP’s academy in Lisbon at age 12, living away from his family to pursue football. He has four children and has been in a long-term relationship with Georgina Rodriguez since 2016.

Ronaldo made his Sporting CP first-team debut in 2002 and impressed Manchester United enough during a 2003 friendly that the club signed him that summer for a then-record fee for a teenager. He developed into a world-class winger and later a prolific goalscorer under Sir Alex Ferguson, winning his first Ballon d’Or in 2008. A world-record transfer to Real Madrid in 2009 (reported at the time around EUR94 million) began the most productive scoring period of his career, during which he became Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer and won four Champions League titles.

Photo: Alejandro Ramos via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

After nine seasons at Real Madrid, Ronaldo transferred to Juventus in 2018 in a deal reported around EUR100 million, then returned to Manchester United in 2021. His second United spell ended in controversial circumstances in late 2022, after which he signed with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr on a deal widely reported as the highest-paying contract in football history. He has continued to represent Portugal at international level, holding the record for most international goals and most international appearances in men’s football history.

Photo: Ludovic Peron via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Forbes and Sportico have repeatedly ranked Ronaldo among the top two or three highest-paid athletes in the world, with total annual earnings (salary plus endorsements) reported at well over $200 million in recent years — among the highest of any athlete across any sport, driven primarily by his Al-Nassr salary combined with his Nike deal and social media income.

Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr contract, signed in December 2022, has been widely reported by multiple outlets (including Sky Sports and Sports Illustrated) to be worth around $200 million per year in total package value, including salary, image rights, and ambassadorial duties for the Saudi Pro League — making it the richest sports contract ever reported at the time of signing. His earlier Real Madrid and Juventus salaries were themselves among the highest in football, reported in the EUR30-58 million per year range at various points, before the Saudi move reset the ceiling for footballer pay entirely.

Ronaldo has held a lifetime endorsement deal with Nike since 2016, reported to be worth in excess of $1 billion over its lifetime — one of the largest athlete-brand partnerships ever signed. He also holds his own “CR7” branded lines covering underwear, footwear, fragrances, and hotels (the Pestana CR7 hotel chain, a joint venture with Portuguese hospitality group Pestana). He is the most-followed individual on Instagram, a platform he is reported to earn several million dollars per sponsored post on, alongside long-running deals with Herbalife, Clear (Unilever), and Armani earlier in his career.

Ronaldo’s business interests include the Pestana CR7 hotel chain, with properties in Lisbon, Madrid, New York, and Marrakech; CR7 Footwear and CR7 Underwear licensed apparel lines; a chain of CR7-branded gyms and fitness centers in Spain; and the CR7 Fragrances line. He has also invested in the Portuguese hospitality and real estate sector more broadly and has been reported to hold stakes in various commercial ventures tied to his personal brand, though not all financial terms of these are publicly disclosed.

Ronaldo has owned residential property in Madrid, Manchester, Turin, and Lisbon over the course of his career, and Saudi and international media have reported he resides in a luxury compound in Riyadh since joining Al-Nassr. He is widely reported to own an extensive car collection including multiple Bugattis (reportedly including a Bugatti Centodieci, one of only ten made, reported to cost around $9 million) alongside Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and Lamborghinis, as well as a private jet. Exact current holdings are not independently confirmed and can change over time.