Why Ronaldo won the Ballon D'Or again!

Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the second year running, his third overall.

A factfile on the Real Madrid and Portugal forward.

Early days

* Born: February 5, 1985, in Funchal, Madeira.

* Played youth football at Nacional before joining Sporting Lisbon in 2002, arch-rivals to his boyhood favourites Benfica.

Manchester United

United manager Alex Ferguson signs an 18-year-old Ronaldo for just over 12 million pounds ($19.4 million) in August 2003 after an outstanding performance against United in a pre-season friendly in Lisbon.

* Named United's 2003-04 Player of the Year in his debut season and secures an FA Cup winners medal.

* Scores debut Champions League goal against Debrecen in qualifying for the 2005-06 edition.

* United claim the 2006-07 Premier League title and Ronaldo is named Footballer of the Year in England and Portugal. Runner-up to Kaka as European Footballer of the Year and third in FIFA World Player of the Year.

* Scores first Champions League goals in the main competition with a double in a 7-1 thrashing of AS Roma.

* United claim a Premier League and Champions League double in 2007-08, Ronaldo finishing as Europe's top goal scorer with 42 goals and winning several domestic awards including England's player of the season.

* Voted World Player of the Year having already become only the third Portuguese to win Europe's Ballon d'Or award following Eusebio in 1965 and Luis Figo in 2000.

* In 2008-09 helps United to the Premier League title, League Cup, Club World Cup and Champions League final, which they lose 2-0 to Barcelona.

* Scored 118 goals in 292 appearances for United.

Real Madrid

Became the world's most expensive player when he signed for Real for a fee of 80 million pounds in 2009.

* Nets 26 goals in 29 La Liga appearances in 2009-10 and seven in six Champions League outings but Real finish the season without major silverware and coach Manuel Pellegrini is sacked and replaced by Ronaldo's compatriot Jose Mourinho.

* Scores a Spanish record 40 goals in 34 games in 2010-11 and nets a superb header to win the King's Cup final against Barcelona.

* Increases his best tally for a single La Liga season to 46 goals in 38 games in 2011-12 but is surpassed by Barca forward Lionel Messi, who scores 50 in 37 games. Real win La Liga.

* Has a poor season by his standards in 2012-13 and Real fail to win major silverware, prompting Mourinho's exit.

* Scores a single-season record 17 goals in the Champions League in 2013-14 as Real secure a 10th European title. Ronaldo nets a penalty in the final in the 4-1 victory over Atletico Madrid after extra-time.

* Wins the Club World Cup as Real Madrid beat San Lorenzo 2-0 in the final.

* Named World Player of the Year in 2008, 2013 and 2014.

Portugal

Makes Portugal debut in 1-0 friendly win over Kazakhstan in August 2003.

* Helps Portugal to runners-up spot at the 2004 European championship.

* Plays a controversial role in the sending-off of England's Wayne Rooney, his Manchester United team mate, in the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals. Television cameras catch him winking at the bench as Rooney was sent off.

* Portugal are eliminated from the 2010 World Cup by Spain in the last 16 and Ronaldo spits at a television cameraman as he walks off the pitch.

* Helps Portugal to the semi-finals of Euro 2012, where they are again knocked out by the Spanish, this time on penalties. Ronaldo doesn't get to take a spot kick due to earlier misses by his team mates.

* Suffers disappointment as Portugal go out in the group stage at the 2014 World Cup.

* Overtakes Pauleta's tally of 47 goals in March 2014 to become Portugal's record scorer. Has netted 52 goals in 117 appearances for his country.