Pay it Forward Cristiano Ronaldo

Pay it Forward Cristiano Ronaldo Pay it Forward: Cristiano Ronaldo Image Source: FIFATV YOUTUBE CHANNELICONIC soccer star  Cristiano Ronaldo has  most recently been in  the headlines for captaining his national Portugese football squad to glory in the UEFA European Championships with a 1-0 defeat of title-holders France at Stade de France.He played only 25 minutes of the match, stretchered off after gamely battling with a knee injury, but, as BBC reporter Phil McNulty  wrote, “such was the pure theatre of his presence on and off the pitch that this was almost ‘The Ronaldo Final’…”.Born Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro on February  5, 1985 on the island of Madeira,  Cristiano was named ‘Ronaldo’  after his father’s favourite US president, Ronald Reagan.Ronaldo  was raised Catholic, and at  a young age he  had an operation for a heart condition that  could have stopped him  playing football, but fortunately the surgery  was a success.Aged just 16, he was tried out for the Sporting Lisbon first team, where his quality was first  reco gnised by top English  clubs such as Liverpool and Barcelona. But when the 18-year-old Ronaldo tore the  Manchester United  defence to shreds during a friendly game, Sir Alex Ferguson made the move, declaring him to be “one of the most exciting young players” he had ever seen.Since then Ronaldo has never looked back and he has become of the most decorated footballers of all time, helping  Manchester United and Real Madrid  to bag a cumulative total of  three Premier League titles, an  FA Cup, two League Cups, one La Liga title, two Copa del Reys, two FIFA Club World Cups and three UEFA Champions Leagues between them. He has also been decorated World Player of the Year (FIFA Ballon d’Or) three times.But just as Ronaldo’s off-pitch presence is said to have played a decisive role in the outcome of the Euro 2016 tournament, the footballer is a vital presence outside of sport too. His altruistic endeavours saw him being named the world’s most charitable sports person of 2015. H ere are just some of the charitable efforts to which Ronaldo has lent his considerable support. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Support for Victims of Natural DisasterIN THE  aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, TV news  crews aired footage of an eight-year-old boy named  Martunis, wearing a Ronaldo No. 7 shirt, who had been stranded for 19 days after his mother and sisters were  killed in the disaster.  Ronaldo visited Martunis in Indonesia and helped to raise funds for reconstruction and rehabilitation. Ronaldo was one of many stars who inspired Martunis to ultimately realise his  dream,  of getting  a youth academy contract with Sporting Lisbon.In 2010, in support of the victims of the Madeira floods, Ronaldo played in a  charity football match between players of FC Porto and players from Madeiran-based clubs, Maritimo and Nacional.In 2015, after the site of the devastating April 2015 earthquake in Nepal, Ronaldo donated a massive €7m o f his own money to help rehabilitation and reconstruction in the country.Support for Cancer TreatmentIN  2009, Ronaldo donated £100,000 to the  Madeiran hospital that helped save his mother’s life in  her long battle with cancer. The money he donated was used to help fund the development of  a cancer care centre at the hospital. Ronaldo also hired a ghostwriter to help his mother write a book about her experience of  the illness. In 2012, Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes paid for specialist treatment for a nine year old boy with terminal cancer. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Save the ChildrenSee how @SavetheChildren is showing parents how to use goat milk to tackle child #hunger in Guatemala http://t.co/OSAw1SGlgs Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) November 2, 2013IMAGE SOURCE: TWITTERRONALDO  is a big supporter of the efforts of the Save the Children charity to help children in the global battle  against hunger and obesity. In January 2013, Ronaldo became the new Global Artist Ambassador for the charity. He promotes healthy eating and physical exercise and has said: “When I learned that one in seven kids around the world go to bed hungry each night, I jumped at the chance to get involved. It is an honour to join Save the Children. I want to work with them to make sure that fewer parents will have to struggle with putting the right kinds of food on the table.”In 2012, he sold the European Golden Boot that he had won that season for £1.5m, to help fund the schooling of children in Gaza. The €7m that he contributed  to Nepal after the April 2015 earthquak, was donated in the the name of Save the Children.FIFA Charity Programmesvideo source: YouTubeIN DECEMBER  2012, Ronaldo became a member of FIFAs ‘11 For Health’ programme, that works with children to raise awareness of conditions such as HIV/AIDS, drug addiction, obesity and malaria.Just under two years later, he joined forces with FIFA again, this time for the association’s  â€˜11 Against Ebola’ programme. Ronaldo was one of the number of the world’s top soccer players involved in the effort,  Xavi Hernandez, Neymar, Gareth Bale and Didier Drogba.Ronaldo received a €600,000 bonus for helping Real Madrid win the 2016 UEFA Champions League. He donated the entirety of the bonus to a number of different charities and good causes.