How Cristiano Ronaldo's promise to his mother inspired a legendary football career built on sacrifice, ambition, and family

Goals, trophies, records and individual awards usually form the narrative of Cristiano Ronaldo ’s story, but the emotional bedrock of his career was laid long before in Funchal, Madeira. Ronaldo grew up in a working-class family of three children, with a burning desire to make it in soccer. On that journey, his parents played separate but complementary roles. His mother, Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, was a great help, while his father, José Dinis Aveiro , played football locally for Andorinha. Ronaldo would later say that the decision for his family to leave Madeira for Lisbon when he was 11 was a very hard one.