Out of Play
Cristiano Ronaldo: Sixteen amazing stories that will change your opinion of the Juventus and Portugal superstar forever
CRISTIANO RONALDO has shocked the world and joined Juventus.
While at Real Madrid he was the world’s richest athlete, commanding a £450,000 weekly salary.
His blockbuster move to Juventus will see his paypacket go up to £500,000-a-week in Italy.
He also earns millions more in endorsements – from his lifetime Nike contract to deals with Sure, Egyptian Steel and numerous others.
But while he is raking in millions annually, the Portuguese superstar is also doing more than his fair share of charity work.
Here are 16 reasons why Ronaldo has one of the biggest hearts in all of sports.
1) His European Golden Boot
In 2011, Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the European golden boot after scoring 40 goals under Jose Mourinho, although Los Blancos could only finish second in La Liga and crashed out at the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Rather than keep the award in his already packed trophy room – Ronaldo opted to sell it for charity.
The boot went on sale at auction and raised a stunning £1.2million.
The funds went towards building a number of schools in war-torn Gaza.
2) The Ballon d’Or
Ronaldo repeated the trick of selling off one of his trophies in October, selling off his 2013 Ballon d’Or trophy at a charity auction in London.
The gala dinner, to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation – which grants wishes to children with life-threatening and terminally-ill childen – was a roaring success.
Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or made a massive £530,000 for the organisation.
3) An ambassador
Ronaldo continues to use his global platform as a force for good.
He is an ambassador for three major charities, Save the Children, Unicef and World Vision, and has spoken up for countless more.
At his 2014 Ballon d’Or speech, Ronaldo made a point of mentioning a group of children he had met with leukemia.
He has continued to speak out in those roles.
Last year, he recorded a message to the children affected by the Syrian conflict, calling them “true heroes” and stating “I am with you”.
He also made a secret donation which he asked Save the Children not to reveal.
Ronaldo’s Ice Bucket Challenge video – the viral sensation that raised hundreds of millions of pounds in 2014 – was seen by more than a hundred million people across his social media platforms.
4) Win bonuses
Ronaldo has also been very generous with giving up money earned from his exceptional performances on the pitch.
In 2013 he was named in the Uefa Team of the Year – earning a €100,000 (£89,000) bonus from the European governing body.
But rather than cash the cheque, he donated it to the Red Cross.
A year later the Portuguese star led Real Madrid to La Decima, their tenth Champions League victory, and picked up a £450,000 bonus from Los Blancos.
But Ronaldo again decided against cashing the money, instead sharing it among the three charities he is an ambassador for, Unicef, World Vision and Save the Children.
5) Blood and bones
The 32-year-old, compared to a growing number of his peers, is remarkably tattoo-free.
It’s all for a reason – Ronaldo regularly donates blood and has been involved in numerous campaigns to encourage others to do the same.
People with tattoos can donate blood, but are not able to do so immediately after getting new ink to reduce the risk of infection.
He said in 2015: “We can all make a difference by donating blood.
“Each donation can benefit up to three people in emergency situations and for long-term medical treatments… That’s why I am enthusiastic… to the importance of blood donation and to encourage people around the world to become lifelong blood donors and help save lives.”
Ronaldo also donates bone marrow after a former team-mate revealed his struggles.
Carlos Martins had a son who needed bone marrow and Ronaldo has been a donor since.
He said donating bone marrow is “something a lot of people think is a difficult thing to do but it’s nothing more than drawing blood and doesn’t hurt.”
6) Multi-million pound relief
Ronaldo again donated a huge amount of money in 2015, to the relief efforts for the Nepalese earthquake in April 2015.
The deadly natural disaster killed 9,000 people, injured 22,000 more and caused untold amounts of damage to the country.
Ronaldo is reported to have given £5MILLION to Save the Children’s disaster relief fund – although those reports have remained unverified and were denied by the charity.
He likely did make a donation, although the amount remains a mystery.
7) Helping a cancer centre
Ronaldo’s mother, Dolores Aveiro, survived breast cancer in 2007.
The former Manchester United man decided to thank the care centre in Portugal that treated his mum – adding £120,000 to their coffers.
8) Invitation to an orphan
In Lebanese capital Beirut, Real Madrid fan Haidar was orphaned when both of his parents were killed by a suicide bomber.
A local reporter got in touch with the Spanish giants and eventually the boy was invited to the club.
It lead to a heart-rending video of Ronaldo cuddling the youngster as he burst into tears of sheer delight to meet his hero.
9) Helping a young fan
Ronaldo was alerted to the story of Nuhuzet Guillen, a nine-year-old with terminal cancer in 2009.
After hearing about the fan, Ronaldo decided to send a driver to bring the family to the hotel where the Real Madrid team were staying.
After emerging from the lift, he is reported to have joked to the youngster: “Don’t you want to say anything?”
He dedicated a goal to Nuhuzet, inviting him to watch the match in his private box at the Bernabeu, and after the match gave him his match shirt.
After speaking with his father, Ronaldo learned there was not much that could be done, although there was experimental treatment available in the US, which the star paid for.
When Nuhuzet’s condition worsened, Ronaldo offered to pay for all of his medication, costing hundreds of thousands, and treatment at a private medical centre.
Ronaldo paid that for more than a year, until the boy sadly passed away in March 2013.
10) Generous with his time
Ronaldo is often targeted by pitch invaders for selfies and pictures.
But rather than avoid the fans, CR7 knows he is an icon to these people and instead often stops for pictures.
On numerous occasions he has stopped fans from being dealt with by heavy-handed security.
Ronaldo also loves to interact with supporters inside stadiums, often staying to throw his shirt into the crowd, sign autographs and take pictures.
11) Helping another young fan
In 2014, the mother of another young fan, ten-month-old Erik Ortiz Cruz, asked Ronaldo to donate a shirt to the boy, who has cortical dysplasia.
The brain abnormality causes up to 30 seizures a day.
After hearing the full story Ronaldo paid £55,000 for initial brain surgery and pledged to cover the cost of any follow-up treatment – although none has so far been needed.
He also helped raise extra money for Erik by donating a signed kit to sell at auction.
12) Broken arm
During a pre-season friendly at Bournemouth, Ronaldo blasted one of his trademark free-kicks into the crowd at the Vitality Stadium.
Unfortunately for 11-year-old Charlie Silverwood, the shot broke the boy’s arm.
Club president Florentino Perez called Charlie, while Ronaldo gave him a signed Real Madrid shirt.
During a Champions League clash he also hit a shot into the crowd that made a young boy cry.
He leapt into the stand to give the youngster his training top.
13) Best friend ever
Super-agent Jorge Mendes named Ronaldo as his best man when he married Sandra in 2015.
And Ronaldo decided to reward his Portuguese friend handsomely, buying him a whole Greek Island as a wedding present.
The island is said to have cost almost £40MILLION.
14) Invitation for Fernando
Rangers legend Fernando Ricksen was suddenly diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2013.
The former Netherlands international is now wheelchair-bound and relies on his wife and carers to look after him.
After his condition became well-known, Ronaldo contacted the Scottish title winner on social media to invite Ricksen and his family to a match at the Bernabeu.
Ronaldo also presented a shirt to the right-back after a Champions League win over Legia Warsaw in October 2016.
15) Super team-mate
After La Decima Real Madrid’s players not only got that win bonus from the club, but also a special gift from Ronaldo.
The player of the tournament decided to reward his team-mates with personalised watches from luxury watch brand Bulgari.
Each watch was personalised and said to have cost him £5,000 each.
16) Looking after big brother
Ronaldo’s father, Denis, was an alcoholic who battled for years with his addiction before his death in 2005.
Older brother Hugo Aveiro was heading down that same path, addicted to alcohol and drugs.
But as Ronaldo’s fame grew he decided to intervene – promising to dedicate La Decima to his older brother if he kicked his destructive habits.
He did and then came on to the pitch to share an emotional embrace with Ronaldo after full-time.
Hugo, who is ten years older than Cristiano, has since been pictured alongside Ronaldo at numerous events, including the 2016 Ballon d’Or ceremony.
Ronaldo is also godfather to Hugo’s son, while the Juventus and Portugal star decided to put his older brother in charge of the Ronaldo Museum in Madeira.
So next time someone mentions how much they hate Ronaldo’s preening on the field, just remember how much he helps out off it.
Cristiano’s big donations
- Selling his 2011 European Golden boot – £1.2milion
- Selling his 2013 Ballon d’or – £530,000
- Donating to the Nepalese earthquake – £5million* (reported)
- Uefa Team of the Year bonus – £100,000
- Champions League 2014 win bonus – £450,000
- Portuguese cancer centre – £120,000
- Helping Erik Oritz Cruz – £55,000
A night guard at Ibuowo Estate, Okinni, Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State, on Saturday, allegedly shot dead a 40-year-old man, Badmus Mohammed.
The guard, Rasaq Moshood, DAILY POST gathered, shot Mohammed, a tenant, who is popularly called Lasgidi dead with his dane gun.
His Landlord, Kazeem Jimoh told DAILY POST that he was at a bar with the deceased till midnight on Friday, before he was called on phone about his death.
According to Kazeem, his tenant was killed at the front of the house, while his door was left open.
“I and Kazeem were at a bar till past 12 when I left him.
“I didn’t sleep at home but I got a call around 1 a.m. that Lasgidi was killed by a guard. When i got home, I saw his door open, while his corpse was outside,” he said.
The Police spokesperson, SP Yemisi Opalola confirmed the incident.
She noted that three night guards have been arrested with their dane guns.
According to her, “one Babatunde Olumide, the Chairman of Ibuowo Estate Okinni reported at dada Estate Divisional Police Hqts., that their night guard, one Moshood Rasaq used his dane gun to shoot one Mohammed Badmus, aged 40 years and he died instantly.
“Suspect has been arrested, gun used has been recovered, while the corpse has been taken to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital morgue for autopsy.”
Opalola added that the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.
Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after 183 days in space, ending China’s longest crewed mission as it continues its quest to become a major space power.
The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft was the latest mission in Beijing’s drive to rival the United States, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon.
Live footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed the capsule landing in a cloud of dust, with the ground crew who had kept clear of the landing site rushing in helicopters to reach the capsule.
The two men and one woman — Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu and Wang Yaping — returned to Earth shortly before 10 am Beijing time (0200 GMT), after six months aboard the Tianhe core module of China’s Tiangong space station.
Ground crew applauded as the astronauts each took turns to report that they were in good physical condition.
Zhai was the first to emerge from the capsule roughly 45 minutes after the landing, waving and grinning at cameras as he was lifted by the ground crew into a specially designed chair before being bundled into a blanket.
“I’m proud of our heroic country,” Zhai said in an interview with CCTV shortly after leaving the capsule. “I feel extremely good.”
The trio originally launched in the Shenzhou-13 from China’s northwestern Gobi Desert last October, as the second of four crewed missions during 2021-2022 sent to assemble the country’s first permanent space station — Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace.”
Wang became the first Chinese woman to spacewalk last November, as she and her colleague Zhai installed space station equipment during a six-hour stint.
Mission commander Zhai, 55, is a former fighter pilot who performed China’s first spacewalk in 2008, while Ye is a People’s Liberation Army pilot.
The trio have completed two spacewalks, carried out numerous scientific experiments, set up equipment and tested technologies for future construction during their time in orbit.
The astronauts spent the past few weeks tidying up and preparing the cabin facilities and equipment for the crew of the incoming Shenzhou-14, expected to be launched in the coming months.
China’s previous record spaceflight mission length was set by last year’s Shenzhou-12 deployment, which lasted 92 days.
Six months will become the normal astronaut residence period aboard the Chinese space station, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Space race
The world’s second-largest economy has poured billions into its military-run space programme, with hopes of having a permanently crewed space station by 2022 and eventually sending humans to the Moon.
The country has come a long way in catching up with the United States and Russia, whose astronauts and cosmonauts have decades of experience in space exploration.
But under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the country’s plans for its heavily-promoted “space dream” have been put into overdrive.
Besides a space station, Beijing is also planning to build a base on the Moon, and the country’s National Space Administration said it aims to launch a crewed lunar mission by 2029.
China has been excluded from the International Space Station since 2011 when the US banned NASA from engaging with the country.
While China does not plan to use its space station for global cooperation on the scale of the ISS, Beijing has said it is open to foreign collaboration although the scope of that cooperation is not yet clear.
The ISS is due for retirement after 2024, although NASA has said it could remain functional until 2030.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday with explosions heard soon after across the country and its foreign minister warning a “full-scale invasion” was underway.
Weeks of intense diplomacy and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia failed to deter Putin, who had massed between 150,000 and 200,000 troops along the borders of Ukraine.
“I have made the decision of a military operation,” Putin said in a surprise television announcement that triggered immediate condemnation from US President Joe Biden and sent global financial markets into turmoil.
Shortly after the announcement, explosions were heard in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and several other cities, according to AFP correspondents.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his address to the nation at the Kremlin in Moscow on February 21, 2022. Alexey NIKOLSKY / Sputnik / AFP
Putin called on Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their arms and justified the operation by claiming the government was overseeing a “genocide” in the east of the country.
The Kremlin had earlier said rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine had asked Moscow for military help against Kyiv.
The extent of Thursday’s attacks was not immediately clear, but Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the worst-case scenario was playing out.
“Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes,” Kuleba tweeted.
“This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.”
Biden immediately warned of “consequences” for Russia and that there would be a “catastrophic loss of life and human suffering”.
NATO’s chief condemned Russia’s “reckless and unprovoked attack” on Ukraine.
Putin’s move came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky made an emotional appeal late on Wednesday night to Russians not to support a “major war in Europe”.
Speaking Russian, Zelensky said that the people of Russia were being lied to about Ukraine.
Zelensky said he had tried to call Putin but there was “no answer, only silence”, adding that Moscow now had around 200,000 soldiers near Ukraine’s borders.
Earlier on Wednesday the separatist leaders of Donetsk and Lugansk sent separate letters to Putin, asking him to “help them repel Ukraine’s aggression”, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The two letters were published by Russian state media and were both dated February 22.
Their appeals came after Putin recognised their independence and signed friendship treaties with them that include defence deals.
– ‘Moment of peril’ –
Putin had for weeks defied a barrage of international criticism over the crisis, with some Western leaders saying he was no longer rational.
His announcement of the military operation came ahead of a last-ditch summit involving European Union leaders in Brussels planned for Thursday.
The 27-nation bloc had also imposed sanctions on Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu and high-ranking figures including the commanders of Russia’s army, navy and air force, another part of the wave of Western punishment after Putin sought to rewrite Ukraine’s borders.
The United Nations Security Council met late Wednesday for its second emergency session in three days over the crisis, with a personal plea there by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Putin going unheeded.
“President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine, give peace a chance, too many people have already died,” Guterres said.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, warned that an all-out Russian invasion could displace five million people, triggering a new European refugee crisis.
Before Putin’s announcement, Ukraine had urged its approximately three million citizens living in Russia to leave.
“We are united in believing that the future of European security is being decided right now, here in our home, in Ukraine,” President Zelensky said during a joint media appearance with the visiting leaders of Poland and Lithuania.
Western capitals said Russia had amassed 150,000 troops in combat formations on Ukraine’s borders with Russia, Belarus and Russian-occupied Crimea and on warships in the Black Sea.
Ukraine has around 200,000 military personnel, and could call up to 250,000 reservists.
Moscow’s total forces are much larger — around a million active-duty personnel — and have been modernised and re-armed in recent years.
– High cost of war –
But Ukraine has received advanced anti-tank weapons and some drones from NATO members. More have been promised as the allies try to deter a Russian attack or at least make it costly.
Shelling had intensified in recent days between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists — a Ukrainian soldier was killed on Wednesday, the sixth in four days — and civilians living near the front were fearful.
Dmitry Maksimenko, a 27-year-old coal miner from government-held Krasnogorivka, told AFP that he was shocked when his wife came to tell him that Putin had recognised the two Russian-backed separatist enclaves.
“She said: ‘Have you heard the news?’. How could I have known? There’s no electricity, never mind internet. I don’t know what is going to happen next, but to be honest, I’m afraid,” he said.
In a Russian village around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border, AFP reporters saw military equipment including rocket launchers, howitzers and fuel tanks mounted on trains stretching for hundreds of metres.
Russia has long demanded that Ukraine be forbidden from ever joining the NATO alliance and that US troops pull out from Eastern Europe.
Speaking to journalists, Putin on Tuesday set out a number of stringent conditions if the West wanted to de-escalate the crisis, saying Ukraine should drop its NATO ambition and become neutral.
Washington Wednesday announced sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which Germany had earlier effectively suspended by halting certification.
Australia, Britain, Japan and the European Union have all also announced sanctions.
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