Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born in the São Pedro parish of Funchal, the capital of the Portuguese island of Madeira, and grew up in the nearby parish of Santo António. He is the fourth and youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Viveiros da Aveiro, a cook, and José Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener and part-time kit man. His mother revealed that she wanted to abort him due to poverty, his father's alcoholism, and having too many children already, but her doctor refused to perform the procedure.
As a child, Ronaldo played for Andorinha from 1992 to 1995 . after that he joined sporting. By age 14, Ronaldo believed he had the ability to play semi-professionally and agreed with his mother to cease his education to focus entirely on football. One year later, he was diagnosed with tachycardia, a condition that could have forced him to give up playing football. Ronaldo underwent heart surgery where a laser was used to cauterize multiple cardiac pathways into one, altering his resting heart rate. He was discharged from the hospital hours after the procedure and resumed training a few days later.
At age 16, Ronaldo was promoted from Sporting's youth team by first-team manager László Bölöni, who was impressed with his dribbling. He subsequently became the first player to play for the club's under-16, under-17 and under-18 teams, the B team and the first team, all within a single season.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was determined to acquire Ronaldo on a permanent move urgently, after Sporting defeated United 3–1 at the inauguration of the Estádio José Alvalade in August 2003. Initially, United had planned to sign Ronaldo and loan him back to Sporting for a year. Having been impressed by him, the United players urged Ferguson to sign him. After the game, Ferguson agreed to pay Sporting £12.24 million for what he considered to be "one of the most exciting young players" he had ever seen. Ronaldo's move to Manchester United was completed on 12 August 2003. Although he requested the number 28, his number at Sporting, he received the squad number 7 shirt, Wearing the number 7 became an extra source of motivation for Ronaldo.A key element in his development during his time in England proved to be Ferguson, of whom he later said: "He's been my father in sport, one of the most important and influential factors in my career."
His father died when Cristiano was just 20 and as a consequence of too much alcohol, he refrains from drinking alcohol. Cristiano wasn't born a legend, but he did something early on which most likely impacted the trajectory of his life. Despite being raised in a home that barely made ends-meet on a remote island, and despite having a father who struggled with alcoholism, Ronaldo decided at a young age to be the best in the world.
