Ronaldo dribbles the ball during Portugal’s World Cup qualifying game against Sweden in 2013 5 CHAPTER 1 A Young Star a Young Star Cristiano Ronaldo received the pass He sprinted forward with an open field in front of him Only Sweden’s keeper stood in his way Ronaldo fired a shot The ball landed in the back of the net Ronaldo’s teammates jumped on him to celebrate It was his third goal of the night for Portugal Portugal beat Sweden 3 2 Ronaldo had scored all of his team’s goals And the victory meant Portugal
Ronaldo has done a lot of work for charities He has given lots of money to hospitals He also works with Save the Children This group fights child hunger and obesity 6Cristiano Ronaldo was going to the World Cup No one doubted that Ronaldo was one of the best players in the world Cristiano grew up without much money His family lived in a small apartment It was in a poor area of a city called Funchal The city is on the island of Madeira And the island is part of Portugal That is a European country on the Atlantic Ocean Cristiano fell in love with soccer at an early age He played in the narrow streets around his home After school he did whatever he could to get outside His mother would ask him whether his homework was done Cristiano would say he did not have any His mother knew better She sent him to his room to do it But he sometimes climbed out the window He wanted to play soccer with his friends
Ronaldo left competes in a game against Barcelona in 2012 7 A Young Star Cristiano’s skill soon became clear He was very fast and ran right around other players For that reason people gave him the nickname Little Bee Madeira has two major clubs on the island They are called C D Nacional and C S Marítimo Cristiano was only 10 years old But already both clubs wanted Cristiano to play for them He agreed to meet with both clubs Then he would make a decision But Marítimo did not show up for the meeting So Cristiano chose Nacional
