What was Ronaldo’s first club?


Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest players in football history. He has had a storied career, winning almost every accolade possible. Yet a lot of people don’t know where Ronaldo started his career. 

What was Ronaldo’s first club? Cristiano Ronaldo began his football career with Sporting CP, a Portuguese side who play in the top flight of Portuguese professional football. 

Quite a few people will not remember the first club that Cristiano Ronaldo played for because he had such incredible success at Real Madrid and Manchester United. But Ronaldo actually started his professional career with Sporting CP. 

Ronaldo joined the academy of Sporting CP in 1997 after having a three-day trial with the team. He was just 12 years old at this time and had to move away from his home in Madeira to join the academy. He was clearly incredibly highly rated by Sporting as he progressed to the first team at just 16 years old. 

Incredibly, Ronaldo would play for the under-16, under-17, under-18, B teams and the first team for Sporting all in the same season. He made his league debut in 2002 when he was just 17 years old. He showed some incredible potential with Sporting and scored a brace two weeks after his debut. 

CR7 immediately started gathering interest from some of the biggest teams around Europe. He would eventually end up playing 31 games for Sporting CP, scoring five goals. Sporting were able to spot Ronaldo from a very young age and so were able to sell him for £12.24 million to Manchester United in 2003. 

What year did Ronaldo join his first club?

Ronaldo joined his professional football team in 1997 when he was just 12 years old. Ronaldo joined Sporting CP when he was just 12 years old, being sold for just over £1,000 at the time. 

This was the first professional team that Ronaldo joined. He had previously played for Andorinha and Nacional, but Sporting was the first club where Ronald would play professional football for the club. He moved to the professional part of the team from the academy set up in 2002, aged just 16 years old. 

What age did Ronaldo start playing football? 

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best football players of this generation, which means he has played football for a very long time. 

Cristiano Ronaldo started playing football from a very young age, joining his first football team when he was just seven years old. In 1992 a seven-year-old Ronaldo joined local team Andorinha. At the time, his father was the kit man of the club and this helped Ronaldo settle In better. 

In the past, there have been reports that Ronaldo first started playing football at just four years old and was clearly very talented considering he moved to Sporting at just 12 years old. 

Which club made Ronaldo famous? 

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most famous faces in football. He is known worldwide as CR7 and is one of the most famous people in the world, outside of just football. 

Manchester United are really the team that made Cristiano Ronaldo famous. When he joined United in 2003 Ronaldo was not much more than an exciting prospect. I mean he was just 18 years old when he made the move from Portugal to Manchester. 

He only made his Portugal debut the same year that he joined Manchester United and was not a hugely expensive purchase for United. He was at the time the most expensive teenager in English football history but certainly was not extremely famous then. 

So by the time Ronaldo left Manchester United, he had become one of the most famous football players in the world. He became the poster boy of one of the biggest teams in football and led them to countless trophies. He was a superstar with Manchester United. 

Ronaldo became a Champions League winner, a Ballon d’Or winner and a three-time Premier League champion with the red side of Manchester. He became one of the best footballers of all time during his time in Real Madrid, but he really became famous when he was with Manchester United. 

Which club was Ronaldo transferred to? 

When Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for the second time, there were a lot of rumours about where he would transfer to. 

Cristiano Ronaldo now plays for Al Nassr FC, a team playing in the Pro League in Saud Arabia. Al Nassr FC are one of the most successful clubs in Saudi Arabia, having claimed 28 trophies in the team’s history. They have won thirteen Pro League titles, six King’s Cups and two Saudi Super Cups

Al Nassr has been able to sign some big names before Ronaldo. Names like Denilson, Vincent Aboubakar, David Ospina and Hristo Stoichkov have all played for Al Nassr as they have the big funds to spend on big names. They have also been able to sign former Roma, Lille, Marseille and Lyon manager Rudi Garcia. 

Al Nassr have gone on a bit of a dry spell the last few years in the league. Their last Pro League title came in the 2018-19 season, finishing third last year. With the signing of Ronaldo, Al Nassr hopes to win another Pro League title. 

What club did Ronaldo play for the most? 

While Cristiano Ronaldo has not finished his career yet, it is pretty likely that he will not play for very much longer. So we have likely seen the team that Ronaldo will play for the most. 

Cristiano Ronaldo played for Real Madrid the most. The Portuguese forward played 438 games in total for the Spanish giants and it would take a very long time for any team to beat that record. 

Cristiano Ronaldo Games and Goals by Club
ClubGamesGoalsSeasons
Real Madrid4384509
Manchester United3461456
Juventus1341014
Sporting CP3151
Al Nassr*1091
Total95971021

*Ronaldo is still active for Al Nassr at time of writing

Ronaldo played for Real Madrid for nine years and he was always the team’s star player. It is what helped Ronaldo accumulate so many games for Real Madrid and considering the star forward is now 38 years old, that is a record that won’t be broken in Ronaldo’s remaining career. 

Louis

Life long Portsmouth Fan and have followed football since 1993. Is there a better sport on earth?

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