Full name	Christiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro
Date of birth	05 February 1985
Place of birth	Funchal, Portugal
Position	Forward

Though Ronaldo is currently only 19th in our ranking, he should not take long to catch Lionel Messi if he continues to play at his current level.

His technical skills, physical abilities and ability to score goals has led to him being considered one of the most complete strikers of all time.

Ronaldo is the first European player to reach 40 goals in a single season in two consecutive seasons, the fastest Real Madrid player to reach 100 league goals and the first player to score against every team in a single season in La Liga.

In 2009, Ronaldo became the most expensive player in football history when he left Manchester United for the Spanish capital for a transfer fee of around £80 million (€94 million).

If he does not win major trophies with Portugal, it is the opposite with his clubs where he has won three Premier Leagues (2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-2009), La Liga (2011-12), two Champions Leagues (2007-08 and 2013-14) and two Balon d’Or (2008 and 2013).

Ronaldo is regarded by many in the sport to be the best contemporary player in the world.