CR7 Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo – Madeira’s Unstoppable Golden Boy
Cristiano Ronaldo was born on the 5th of February 1985 in Funchal, Madeira Island.
His first club was Andorinha and he didn’t have to play much to be noticed. Since he was a little boy, all he wanted was to play football. Indeed, he spent much of his childhood doing precisely that.
In 1995, he began his career as a youth player for the CD Nacional club. In his first season, he already started feeling confident, winning his first award as footballer. His successes with the team led to a move to Lisbon to play for Sporting Clube de Portugal. In 2002, when he was 17 years old, he scored 3 goals for Sporting right in his first season and, at this point, he was already considered their best player.
After the construction of the new Sporting stadium, Alvalade XXI, Cristiano Ronaldo opened the new field in a match against Manchester United, winning 3-1, which caught the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United’s manager, who signed him up in 2003.
Today Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Real Madrid and the Portuguese national team, and is considered by many the best football player in the world. He has won many awards, broken many records and accomplished many achievements in his career. To name but a few: his first club Honour, the FA Cup, his first UEFA Champions League in 2008, FIFPro World Player of the Year, FIFA World Player of the Year, FIFA Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball) 2008, 2013 and 2014, UEFA Club Footballer of the Year trophy, European Golden Shoe award (2007/8, 2010/11, 2013/14 and 2014/15) and the much longed-for UEFA Euro 2016. As the captain of Portugal national football team, Ronaldo was of pivotal importance in motivating his teammates and helping carry the name of Portugal and Madeira beyond borders.
In December 2013, Cristiano Ronaldo inaugurated the CR7 Museum in Funchal, where you could admire around 170 trophies that he had won, photographs of the highlights of his career, a wax statue and videos. The museum was located close to Praça do Mar (in Rua Princesa Dona Amélia, 10), where there was actually a bronze statue of this player. But with the opening of the new Pestana CR7 Hotel, a partnership between Cristiano Ronaldo and the Pestana Group, it would only be natural that the museum would change location. So now, you will find the CR7 Museum on the ground floor of the hotel on Av. Sá Carneiro / Praça CR7 (formerly known as Praça do Mar) and Ronaldo’s statue at the entrance. The museum tripled the space (for the awards to come) and offers its visitors the possibility of taking interactive photos with Ronaldo and his trophies.
Owning a hotel was an old dream of his. So when the opportunity of a joint venture with the Pestana Group arose, he didn’t think twice and accepted to open boutique-style hotels for younger travellers, known as the ‘Millennials’, who give particular importance to modern amenities. The chosen locations were the cruise harbour of Funchal, historic downtown Lisbon, also in Portugal, as well as Gran Vía in Madrid, Spain, and near Times Square in New York, USA.
Cristiano Ronaldo also has a clothes store in Madeira, called 'CR7', located in the Ajuda area in Funchal. It sells various articles that are exclusive to the brand and that remind us of his style. And since what's on the inside matters as well, he also has an underwear brand, ‘CR7 Underwear’, that sells online.
We are all proud of Cristiano Ronaldo!
