Innehållsförteckning för Issue 7 från World Soccer Presents

The first-ever mention of Cristiano Ronaldo in World Soccer can be found in the September 2003 issue; a mere line on the teenager’s transfer to Manchester United from Sporting. Since then, he’s gone on to be named the magazine’s World Player of the Year a joint-record five times. Who could have predicted that almost two decades ago? His elite mentality is undoubtedly one of the reasons he stakes claim to be one of the game’s greatest-ever players, and that’s something that resonates throughout this issue. In a standout quote from his 2008 ESM Golden Shoe interview (pages 24-31), a 23-year-old Ronaldo speaks about age. “Age is not the most important thing. If you do the right things on the pitch, people don’t care about age. If you have talent, you…

GOALKEEPER PETR CECH (Czech Republic) The young Chelsea-bound keeper faced a lot of competition but showed agility, a big-match mentality and had confidence in abundance. Honourable mentions: Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands) – one of the heroes as his side finally came good in a penalty shootout; Ricardo (Portugal) – quarter-final spot-kick saviour but at fault for the final goal; Gianluigi Buffon (Italy) – impressive and gentlemanly; Fabien Barthez (France) – one of the few Frenchmen to emerge from the tournament with any credit. RIGHT-BACK GEORGIOS SEITARIDIS (Greece) The best right-back at the tournament by a long way. Tight defensively, he also roamed forward to great effect and showed he could switch to a central marking role when required. Honourable mention: Thomas Helveg (Denmark) – for proving that attack can…

PERSONALITY “Mentally, he is extremely durable, much more than he is usually given credit for. He’s endured a lot of criticism in the media but he hasn’t let it affect him. In fact, he’s come out the other side so much stronger. He has let his football speak up for him. He has the force of character to stay at the top for the next ten years.” CONSISTENCY “It’s the key to his outstanding season. Game in, game out, he has been playing at a consistently high standard. He’s more in charge of his emotions on the pitch and has gained in effectiveness as a maker of chances and as a goalscorer.” TECHNIQUE “Never in all my time in football have I seen someone with his extraordinary technical ability, and…

After his most prolific campaign in England, rumours circulated of Ronaldo’s interest in moving to Real Madrid. Manchester United filed a tampering complaint with FIFA over Madrid’s alleged pursuit, but the governing body refused to take action. FIFA president Sepp Blatter insisted that the player should be allowed to leave, describing the situation as “modern slavery”. Despite Ronaldo publicly agreeing with Blatter, the deal wasn’t completed Spain’s summer ended up bein as much about two transfers that weren’t, about the domin effect that never happened, than those that were completed. They had dominated the media for five weeks but, in barely five days, it was finally confirmed that both Samue Eto’o and Cristiano Ronaldo were going nowhere. Real Madrid were forced to accept that they could not get their man;…

Ronaldo was made Portugal’s permanent captain under Carlos Queiroz in July 2008, but he failed to deliver a single goal in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Ahead of the tournament in South Africa he was tipped to be their star player, and was subsequently named Man of the Match in all three of their group-stage games Cristiano Ronaldo smiles when he tries to justify why he didn’t score in qualifying by saying: “I am saving my goals for the World Cup.” There is no doubt that the most expensive player on the planet needs to rediscover his goalscoring touch with the national team if they stand a chance of advancing from a challenging group phase. Ronaldo’s drought worries Portugal fans, many of whom don’t understand why he has struggled…

FACT FILE Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro NATIONALITY Portuguese AGE 27 (05.02.85) PLACE OF BIRTH Funchal, Madeira, Portugal HEIGHT 6ft1in (1.86m) POSITION Forward TEAMS Sporting (2002-03) 31 games / 5 goals Manchester United (2003-09) 292 games / 118 goals Real Madrid (2009-present) 168 games/168 goals Portugal (2003-present) 100 games / 37 goals HONOURS Manchester United Club World Cup 2008; Champions League 2008; Premier League 2007, 2008, 2009; FA Cup 2004; League Cup 2006, 2009; Community Shield 2007 Real Madrid La Liga 2012; Copa del Rey 2011; Spanish Super Cup 2012 Cristiano Ronaldo is on his way back to Manchester United. The Champions League draw means that he will play at Old Trafford for the first time since joining Real Madrid for £80 million in the summer of 2009. For the…

Last season you scored 32 goals in La Liga, you won the ESM Golden Shoe and also scored 17 goals in the Champions League – something that nobody has ever done before. How do you feel about winning this award? Individual awards are the result of having achieved your targets as a collective. Fortunately, we had a fantastic season. We won the Champions League, the Spanish Cup and the European Super Cup. An individual trophy is the prize for playing well as a team but obviously, I’m not going to lie, I really wanted to win this trophy. You’ve twice been named best player in the world and won the Ballon d’Or award three times. What is left for you to achieve? To remain the best. I’ve not changed over…

The insistent and unavoidable question of the past decade, in which we have been blessed to watch two of the all-time greats playing in the same era and often head-to-head, is: which one do you think is the best? I have always favoured Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo. Bewitching skill over blinding power has been the main reason, although a milder ego and fewer theatricals have also been a factor. But now I am not so sure. Now I am leaning the other way. A significant element has been added to the equation – the compelling way that Ronaldo has energised Serie A following his switch to Juventus in the summer after so many years in Spain at Real Madrid. It was a mighty gamble for a 33-year-old with such…

The date is September 11, 2021, and all eyes in Manchester are on one man. Just over18 years after his first Premier League debut, Cristiano Ronaldo had returned to Old Trafford after joining Manchester United for the second time. If he had been writing his own script, perhaps his opening goal would have come earlier than the second minute of first-half stoppage time. He may also have chosen a more spectacular finish than a tap-in inside the six-yard box. Still, when Freddie Woodman spilled Mason Greenwood’s shot, nobody reacted quicker than Ronaldo; even at the age of 36, he remains sharper than anyone else in the penalty area. Seventeen minutes into the second half, goal number two arrived. This time it had a little more style; racing on to Luke…

As a coach, Laszlo Boloni won the Portuguese league and cup double with Sporting in 2001-02, and as a player starred in the Steaua Bucharest team that won the European Cup in1986. Yet he is more likely to be remembered as the man that handed Cristiano Ronaldo his professional debut. “I went to see the youth team and asked that he [Ronaldo] come along with the first team,” the Romanian told Marca in 2020. “When I saw him in action, I decided that he wasn’t going to go back to playing with the youth team.” To those at the Lisbon club, it was no secret that an extraordinary young talent was rising through the ranks. He had already progressed to the first team with ease, and impressed during pre-season friendlies…

ADRIANO Born: 26.10.84; Club: Coritiba Country: Brazil Another from Brazil’s endless production line of attacking left-backs, his major advantage is that a strong right foot gives him the extra option of cutting in on goal. Already in his third year in the Coritiba team. Has come up through the ranks with the national team and was a late call-up to the Copa America squad. Abel AGUILAR 06.01.85; Deportivo Cali Colombia An old head on teenage shoulders. His midfield marking and positional sense were key to Colombia’s third-place finish in last year’s World Youth Cup in the UAE, and he confirmed his promise in this season’s Copa Libertadores. Juan Carlos ARCE 10.04.85; Oriente Petrolero Bolivia The most interesting player Bolivia have produced in a while. Operates behind the striker, where despite…

Cristiano Ronaldo, a European champion for both club and country in 2016, is World Soccer’s World Player of the Year. A winner in 2008, 2013 and 2014, he has now matched the achievement of Lionel Messi by claiming the award for a record fourth time. The other winners in the 35th annual World Soccer Awards were first-time victors; Claudio Ranieri as 2016’s Manager of the Year following his achievements with Leicester City, who were the 2016 Team of the Year. The World Player award is recognition of the most successful year of Ronaldo’s career. After scoring the winning penalty when Real Madrid beat city rivals Atletico in a shootout to win the Champions League with Real Madrid, he then captained Portugal to their first senior international success, at Euro 2016.…

At the end of a traumatic, non-World Cup summer, Italian football could not have asked for anything better. Cristiano Ronaldo, “the greatest player on the planet”, joined the country’s most famous club, Juventus, in what was modestly entitled “the deal of the century”. At the very moment France were wrapping up their 4-2 final win over Croatia in Moscow, Ronaldo was flying into Turin airport. He arrived on a Sunday afternoon in order to be ready for his first full day as a Juve player the next morning, which was marked by the ritual medical and an eagerly awaited first Juventus press conference. Speaking at the club’s Allianz Stadium, the new boy said all the right things. For those who were worried that he had come to Italy just for…

There was a cruel, if poetic justice about the manner in which Juventus wrapped up a 35th Serie A league title with a 2-1 home victory against Fiorentina. Notwithstanding the fact that, for many reasons, this was an historic night, there was a strangely anticlimactic feel to the occasion. The Turin powerhouse had just become the first club from the big five European leagues to win eight consecutive domestic titles. Furthermore, Cristiano Ronaldo had just become the first player to have won the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A treble. And yet even though Colombian star Juan Cuadrado jumped around li ke a crazy man, sprayi ng whi te foam on the heads of team-mates and coach Massimiliano Allegri, these celebrations somehow looked just a tad ritualistic. The point…

Stats correct up to 01.09.21 the numbers game How were his goals scored? When were his goals scored? Goal types Goals by year WHAT THEY SAID CRISTIANO RONALDO “From all the records that I have broken during my career - and fortunately there have been a few - this one is very special for me and it’s certainly on the shelf of the achievements that make me truly proud. “First of all, because every time I represent my country it’s a special moment, for knowing that I’m defending Portugal and showing to the world what Portuguese people are made of. “Secondly, because national team competitions have always had a very strong impact on me as I was growing up, watching my idols playing for their flags every other summer in…

The date is August 7, 2003. Manchester United are in Lisbon for their final preseason friendly before facing Arsenal in the Community Shield, as the first opponents at Sporting’s newly-built stadium, the Estadio Jose Alvalade. The United players have just touched down in Portugal, jet-lagged, after a tour of America, hoping for one last easy run out before the season begins. Within 45 minutes, it became clear: this would be far from an easy evening for the United defenders. “This kid nobody knew tore us apart for the whole game. No one could get near him; he was amazing,” said Mikael Silvestre. In his autobiography, Sir Alex Ferguson described “a look of pain and bewilderment” across right-back John O’Shea’s face; Roy Keane said that his fellow Irishman needed to see…

George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham all wore Manchester United’s No.7 shirt with individualistic distinction. All were utterly different in style, outlook and persona. To find another jewel to carry such a magic number has been one of the most remarkable achievements in the long reign of Sir Alex Ferguson. Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro flies with the seven now – and probably for a long time to come since he is not yet 22. He could well become the tenth foreign player to win England’s Footballer of the Year award if United keep their Premiership noses ahead of Chelsea and his most potent rival, Didier Drogba. The Ivory Coast striker, for all his attacking aggression, has not had to confront the crowd antagonism on away grounds…

They had waited four years for this; almost1,500 days. Sunday night at the Santiago Bernabeu and the party was in full swing. One by one the players were called up, jogging across the white surface, waving as they made their way to a huge platform in the middle of the pitch. Fireworks exploded from the roof and Placido Domingo gave a rendition of the club’s centenary anthem. At long last, Real Madrid had wrested the title from Barcelona. After three consecutive titles heading to the Camp Nou, this one was Bernabeu bound. They had clinched it in record breaking style, too. On the final day, Madrid defeated Mallorca and those three points took them to 100 - a La Liga record. They had also won more games (32) and scored…

The only question Real Madrid fans were asking on the final day of the 2010-11 season was would Cristiano Ronaldo score? After three-and-a-half minutes he provided the answer, dashing in at the far post against Almeria to put the ball over the line for his 39th goal of the season. Later on he scored another to become the league’s top scorer – not just this season but of any season, breaking the previous record of 38 held jointly by Telmo Zarra (in1950-51) and Hugo Sanchez (1989-90). Madrid paper Marca actually made it 41 goals and, as the newspaper that officially awards the Pichichi trophy for the top scorer, 41 it would have to be. Everyone else, including the ESM group that awards the Golden Shoe and Real Madrid themselves called…

Records seem to tumble whenever Ronaldo steps out onto the pitch in Portugal kit. After captaining the nation to their first-ever major honour at Euro 2016, he became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match in Russia in 2018 (in doing so, against Spain in their opener, he also became the first Portuguese player to score a goal in four World Cups). His winner against Morocco in their second group-stage game saw him break Ferenc Puskas’ record as the highest European goalscorer of all-time and, although Portugal were eventually eliminated in the last 16 by Uruguay, Ronaldo was named in the Dream Team for his performances. A year later, his treble against Switzerland en route to the 2019 Nations League trophy made him the first…

The words “icon” and “iconic” tend to be devilishly overused in sporting lexicon. Despite being defined in the dictionary as something “widely recognised and well-established”, a great goal at the weekend instantly becomes an “iconic” moment. A footballer, who has only been at his club for a season, can quickly develop into a “club icon”. Widely recognised, sure, but well-established? Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other hand, is a truly iconic sporting figure. Since making his debut at Sporting almost two decades ago, he’s broken a multitude of records, lifted copious cups and trophies, and received plentiful individual honours. Some of his perhaps lesser-known world records not mentioned on previous pages of this special bookazine include being the first player to score in every minute of a game (1-90), being the…