Cristiano Ronaldo is not just one of the biggest football players but athletes in any sport the world has ever witnessed, he is the first person to cross 1 Billion followers across social media platforms, five Ballon d”Or/FIFA Ballon d”Or awards, earned more than USD 1 billion in his career earning and a net worth of $600 million. His gesture of putting away Coca-Cola from the table cost the giant company a whopping 4 Billion $ and he also runs CR7-branded clothing, accessories, hotels, and gyms, today Christiano Ronaldo has everything one could ever imagine.
He did not come from a wealthy background. Rather his family was so poor that his parents thought of aborting him but finally, they decided to bring him to this world. He is a perfect example of having nothing to having everything
Have you ever imagined how he achieved all this? You would say it is hard work, discipline, and dedication, and yes these are big reasons for a boy born in a small town named Madeira to become a mega success but here in this article, we will focus on a different perspective of his personality like his thought process, his heart, his core values that made him what he is today, so let’s start with “DECODING CHRISTIANO RONALDO”.
Parents Background Story
Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro (Mom) and José Dinis Aveiro (Dad), both came from a humble background in the Portuguese island of Madeira. Christiano’s mother was a strong woman and she fought life for her family by working as a cook and a cleaner to support her family, however his father is known as someone who was an alcoholic and died because of it but fewer people knew that his father has faced challenges in his life by serving as a soldier in the Portuguese colonial wars in Africa, specifically in Angola and Mozambique, he fought the war which was already over under the military dictatorship, the conditions there were so miserable that surviving was the biggest win and even if you survived you will be mentally broken, critical diseases like malaria which killed many, there was hardly any food to eat, in a high heat waves conditions the water itself was too hot to quench your thirst, the only relief was a refrigerator with cold beers, the only way for survival was beer and that’s how Ronaldo’s father got addicted to beer, he had hopes and liveliness but that phase of his life changed everything in his later life, now he is an alcoholic with no money, he worked several odd jobs including the job of a kit man at a local football club and this affected his family a lot.
Bond with his father
Since Christiano’s father was a kit man at a local football club that became a stepping stone for him to get more connected to football and psychologically a man always sees his child doing all that good he has never been able to do, his father always says that his son will become world’s number 1 footballer one day and everyone laughs at him but that’s the love he has for Christiano (a non-verbal communication between two very closely bonded individuals), although his father does not have any hope for himself all his hopes he sees in his son (Christiano) and that’s his biggest wish and that’s the most powerful bond in the universe, the bond of Love, we believe this became the primary motivating factor for Christiano to play football and later transferring that love in the football.
In an interview when he saw his father’s video, Christiano Ronaldo broke down into tears and realized that his father wanted to see him succeed today he is at the top but he does not have his father to share
The Soul of passion is love, the big tree of Ronaldo’s success and achievement where we can see his passion, hard work, discipline, and all the other things, the seed was the Love for his father which was nurtured by so many people specially his mother and other happenings which we will discuss later in this article.
Early Story
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on 5th February 1985 after her mother tried to terminate her pregnancy for which she drank warm ale and “ran till she dropped” but was unsuccessful in her attempt, she said “I wanted to abort but the doctor didn’t support my decision,” and she was trying this because of poverty and she did not want her child to suffer, but later she decided to keep the baby.
Christiano’s childhood was difficult but he shared a good bond with his siblings and his love for football started developing from a very young age by the age of 10, he became a local celebrity and he has now become too big for his hometown Funchal, Madeira so he moved to Lisbon for joining Sporting Lisbon’s Youth academy at the age of 12 where he impressed everyone with his talent but they use to laugh at him whenever he opens his mouth because he has a different accent which was his hometown accent
He could have fought with them but he did not open his mouth much and did all the talking with the ball, this shows his sheer attitude of channelizing his energies on a constructive medium and this was the time when he use to cry daily as he was missing his family a lot, he even said that it was the hardest and the most important time of his life as this time would either make him or break him, and he took this time to make himself.
This again shows his personality, difficulties come in our lives to grind us to polish us but if you are too weak you will surely be broken down into pieces and the majority of people used to cry when they face problems and hardships, in an Interview Ronaldo said that you will never become better without putting yourself in a difficult situation.
The next big happening in Christiano Ronaldo’s life was when he was 14 years of age and he was managing his studies with football and he used to get bullied. One day his teacher disrespected him and his family for being poor, and for a child who has grown up in a house with no electricity, this shook him badly. He threw a chair at his teacher and for doing so he was expelled from his school. This incident became a major turning point in his life as he was already not interested in studies, he along with his mother decided to leave school and focus entirely on football, it was surely a bold decision and history suggests that big success often comes by taking bold decisions. Now Ronaldo was able to do a lot more hours of training to improve his game and this became a major turning point in his career.
In life, we come across many happenings and nothing is good or bad, it is just our perspective that makes that happening good or bad, and the champions of any field all have this thing in common that they have been able to take out positives from negative looking scenarios, and also they all have a crystal clear goal in their mind. Ronaldo was moreover happy after getting expelled, he saw that this would make him focus more on his training.
Ronaldo had an enormous amount of talent from the beginning but he has always said in his interviews that talent is not enough, hard work and discipline are more important contributing factors in your journey to becoming world-class which he has always followed and that’s something which makes him what he is today.
He continued to play for Sporting CP and later in the year 2002 he made his official debut for the senior team at the age of 17 and scored 2 crucial goals for his team later he caught the eyes of Manchester United’s manager Alex Ferguson and he urgently wanted to sign Ronaldo as he believed that Ronaldo was “one of the most exciting young players” he had ever seen and he signed him at £12 million which is England record for any teenager.
With this deal, the life of Ronaldo and his family completely changed, for Ronaldo his family is very important and he is closely connected with his family
Manchester United Saga
When he joined this prestigious club he demanded Jersey number 28 and the reason for choosing this number was because previously he had worn this number and he felt connected, this shows that Ronaldo as a person welcomes the good new things but he values and respects even smallest of the things in his journey which he has always highlighted in many of his interviews.
However, the legendary manager of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson insisted Ronaldo to take the iconic number 7 which was previously the jersey number of legends like David Beckham. Sir Alex Ferguson saw that magical spark in Ronaldo and he was sure about giving him the number 7 later he proved this move to be correct, and from here the amazing bond between Ronaldo and Sir Alex Ferguson who played a very important role in his life and career began.
Sir Alex Ferguson
By this time Ronaldo was talented clay as a person and as an athlete, but he was about to be shaped into the world’s biggest athlete by Sir Alex Ferguson, for many reasons Ronaldo considers him as his father in football, Sir Alex shaped him into a grown-up man and not just improved his game but have also inculcated a lot of values like keeping the family above everything. It was a crucial game and Ronaldo was a key player and his father’s health was not good and Ronaldo wanted to be with his father, Sir Alex told him to be with his father and said always family first.
These are a few happenings that show Sir Alex’s views towards relations and family and that’s what he taught Ronaldo too, these are also a few examples where we can learn why Ronaldo is so much connected with his family and his near and dear ones, he walks an extra mile to help and support his people (Love).
Being brave and strategic are a few more things that Ronaldo learned from him.
Coca-Cola facing the Ronaldo Effect
During a press conference at Euro 2020, Ronaldo removed Coca-Cola bottles and picked up water to encourage people to drink water instead of sugar-loaded carbonated drinks, this move by Ronaldo caused Coca-Cola to lose 5.2 Billion USD in the market, this was a very brave move but he did it for what he felt was right.
Being brave is one more very important aspect of his personality that has made him what he is today.
Fitness and Mindset
Ronaldo follows the laws of attraction (The Secret), Visualisation and affirmation, as he always says that he is the best in the world after saying this he knows this statement is not to undervalue other legends but if he does not make his mind into believing this, he can never be the top performer and by affirming this again and again that he is the best he is programming his mind and hence his actions follow.
Your body must support what your mind says.
He said he is also a human like everyone, he also feels like giving up in the morning, being easy on himself, relax but he knows that this will not make him the number one so he has made himself follow the pain of discipline. If he has made his mind believe that he is the number one then he has to have that kind of body and that aim gives him (and all of us) the necessary motivation to follow the boring routine of getting up early, exercise, and have a boring-looking diet.
Understanding of The Business
He owns many brands that deal in fashion, hospitality, fitness, food, and digital and why he started this was clear that if his endorsed products earn a big profit then why not do it for himself and have full control of what his fans trust him for, this shows that he takes the responsibility as well and starting these businesses at a time when he is at his peak may demand more of his time and effort but he is smart enough to understand that this is the right time and having this sense comes from him being from a humble background and he values all that he has got and that’s why do all that he can do
Tough love philosophy with son
Christiano Ronaldo is very tough on his son for keeping his diet, exercise, and life and even giving him cold ice baths too, he does this because he loves him a lot, and that way of making your child stronger to make him tough and win in life, he has been tough on himself and the similar thing he is doing for his son too as his son Christiano Junior is also willing to make his career in football even after his father gave him the freedom to pursue whatever he wants to do in his life.
Being mentally tough has always been a key to success for Ronaldo.
Conclusion
Though Newton’s Law says that every action has an equal and an opposite reaction, in life between the action and the reaction there is something called, your choice of the reaction and that’s something that defines who you are and what you will become.
In the life of Christiano Ronaldo, many adverse things happened like extreme poverty, bullying, living without a family as a child, his father’s death, and many more things but how he reacted to those happenings made him what he is today and that’s what his mindset is.
For mega success, only one ingredient is not enough but it’s a recipe of your background, family support, values, hard work, patience, dedication, passion, mindfulness, discipline, a bit of luck, love; and these ingredients must be cooked well to make a perfect recipe and Ronaldo’s life is a perfect definition of this
As he says he is not the kind of guy who likes to give advice but he wants to be a role model and yes he is a role model for everyone today and for the future generations to come.
Words of thanks
We hope you like our efforts in presenting the story of Ronaldo from this perspective, thankyou for reading till the end.