Guardian angel: Cristiano Ronaldo's family will bring up babyCristiano Ronaldo has become the father of a baby boy according to an extraordinary announcement on his Facebook page.
The shock message, which was also posted on the 25-year- old former Manchester United star's Twitter account, indicated that he would bring up the child without the unnamed mother.
The footballer is currently dating Russian underwear model Irina Shayk, but the baby's mother is said to be American.
Ronaldo spent last summer in Los Angeles and Miami after signing for Real Madrid from Manchester United for a record £80million.
The world's most expensive and arguably most famous footballer said his son would be kept under his ' exclusive guardianship', leading to questions about why the mother has given him up.
The baby is thought likely to be brought up by Ronaldo's family in his native Portugal. Ronaldo, whose poor World Cup campaign came to an end last week when Portugal were knocked out by Spain, is now concentrating again on club football.
But his gruelling training regime and fixtures at Real Madrid, where he earns £180,000 a week, combined with a love of the high life, make it all but impossible to imagine him being a single parent.
That makes it likely that the child's upbringing will have plenty of input from Ronaldo's formidable mother Dolores.
The announcement of the birth was made on the internet in the early hours of yesterday morning.
It said: 'It is with great joy and emotion that I inform I have recently become father to a baby boy.
He's scored: The footballer's Facebook page carried the news'As agreed with the baby's mother, who prefers to have her identity kept confidential, my son will be under my exclusive guardianship.'
Last night, more than 18 hours after the messages first appeared and after 40,000 fans had registered their congratulations on Facebook, Ronaldo's agent confirmed the story, saying: 'Yes, it's true. We make no further comment.'
It is not known whether the footballer had a fling with the woman in question or whether she had the child through a 'Ricky Martin'- style arrangement.
Thumbs up: Ronaldo during Portugal's World Cup 2010 campaign 
The singer became a father to twins with help from a surrogate mother in 2008. Yesterday a Portuguese newspaper, Correio da Manha, said Ronaldo's son was born in early June.
A family friend apparently told the newspaper that the player's mother and sisters Elma and Katia were preparing the documentation to take the child to Portugal.
However, last night it was understood that the baby is already in Portugal.
Ronaldo has been linked to scores of beautiful women in the past few years.
He was linked with tennis player Maria Sharapova, 23, in 2006, and Big Brother star Imogen Thomas, 26, in 2008. Last year he was romantically linked with Paris Hilton, 29, in June and with Kim Kardashian, 29, in April of this year.
If it is true that the baby was born in June, it must have been conceived around September last year when 21-year-old Italian Raffaella Fico claimed to be dating the footballer.
Ronaldo took her to an Elton John concert in Lisbon in June 2009.
Months later, she claimed she was still dating the star and had met his family, but Ronaldo never commented on the supposed relationship. The striker is said to be madly in love with current girlfriend Irina.
Last month they were enjoying a five-day pre-World Cup break on a £50,000 a-week yacht off the coast of Corsica, with the 5ft 10in green-eyed beauty telling friends Ronaldo wanted to have children with her.
Only two months ago, Ronaldo was at the centre of a pregnancy riddle involving a stunning Spanish model.
Former Miss Spain Maria Jose Suarez was linked to the star after splitting with her boyfriend, tennis player Feliciano Lopez, when she discovered she was pregnant.
Paris Hilton: exchanged kisses with Cristiano RonaldoThe footballer was named in the media as her secret lover, sparking speculation he was the father of the child.
But she denied sleeping with Ronaldo and last week it emerged she had lost her baby.
source: dailymail
