International Players

What happened to Cristiano Ronaldo's father? The sad story of the Juventus's star

By Mauricio Saenz

José Dinis Aveiro died in 2005 and didn't see his son shine

José Dinis Aveiro died in 2005 and didn't see his son shine

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Cristiano Ronaldo's one of the best players of all time. But he has a great pain in his heart that not even the fact of breaking all kinds of records, signing multi-million dollar contracts, owning a luxury home, car collection or having raised a beautiful family together with the Argentine model Georgina Rodríguez can replace. It's that in 2005 his father, José Dinis Aveiro, died in London at the age of 51 after a long time abusing alcohol and having survived the conflict with Angola, and he could not see him shine in the maximum splendor of him. 

Cristiano Ronaldo gave a while ago an interview to British journalist Piers Morgan and his program 'Good Morning Britain', "probably one of the most revealing I've done", the footballer explained on his Instagram profile. In one of the moments of the talk, the interviewer showed him some unpublished images of his father that penetrated that iron facade that Portuguese always shows and caused irrepressible tears at the memories that flocked to his memory.

The player already has his page in the history of football, with five Ballons d'Or, five Champions League and as many individual and collective titles in his showcases. His name is considered among the best footballers of all time, but his father could never see the magnitude of his success. José Dinis Aveiro died in 2005 when Cristiano was only 20 years old and was already emerging at Manchester United. "I really don't know my father one hundred percent", confesses the Juventus forward in the interview with Morgan, also regretting that he has become number one and he didn't see it.

His father died of liver failure at just 51 years old in 2005 after a long time abusing alcohol. This detail was widely known, but what many perhaps did not know is that José Dinis Aveiro was a soldier who fought in Africa for months, as revealed by The Sun. He was forced into military service and fought in Portugal's war to prevent the Angolan colony from gaining its independence.

The return to Portugal after 13 months between Angola and Mozambique was not as Cristiano's father expected. His country had collapsed economically due to spending on the war under the military dictatorship, so there was no work in Madeira either and Aveiro barely had any money. "We were abandoned. The war veterans had no money or work. Of course, when I see Ronaldo I remember his father: he had problems and had nothing to eat, so he resorted to drinking", explained one of his colleagues to ESPN.

Eventually he got a job as a gardener, and managed to increase his income by taking over the jerseys for Andorinha, a team from one of the Funchal suburbs. According to the information provided by The Sun, Aveiro was in charge of ordering the changing rooms and ensuring that each player had his equipment clean, a job that he obtained thanks to the fact that Ronaldo played for the team. The work of his father caused the rest of his teammates to make fun of the footballer, something that helped him feed that competitive mind that persists today.

How did Cristiano Ronaldo's father pass away?

In September 2005 the body of José Dinis Aveiro said enough and he died in London just days after his 52nd birthday due to liver failure caused by alcoholism. Cristiano had tried to help him for years and was with him when he died, also promising that he would be the best. In 2008 he achieved his goal with his first Champions League and his first Ballon d'Or, but his father was no longer there to see him succeed.


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