Cristiano Ronaldo 2006: the turning point
Published on 29 October 2026
Cristiano Ronaldo's 2006 is remembered for one afternoon in Germany, but its real importance lies in what happened afterwards. In July 2006 he became the most unpopular footballer in England after his role in Wayne Rooney's sending-off at the World Cup, and within a year he had turned that hostility into the platform for his first Premier League title and his first major individual award. This article reports the World Cup incident factually, without invented quotes, and explains how 2006 became the turning point of his Manchester United career.
The promise is simple: a dated, sourced account of Ronaldo's 2006, separating the World Cup summer from the club season that followed, and correcting one common error about his PFA award.
A trophy in February: the League Cup
Before the World Cup, 2006 had already given Ronaldo a medal. On 26 February 2006, Manchester United beat Wigan Athletic 4-0 in the League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Wayne Rooney scored twice, Louis Saha scored once, and Ronaldo scored in the 59th minute to make it 3-0. It was United's first trophy since the FA Cup in 2004, and it confirmed that the young team Sir Alex Ferguson was building around Rooney and Ronaldo could win finals.
Ronaldo's own numbers that season were still modest by his later standards. In 2005-06 he scored 15 goals in 62 appearances in total, combining club and international football. He was a thrilling, frustrating winger: capable of beating any defender, still learning when to pass, shoot or cross. Nobody watching him in February 2006 would have predicted 42 goals two seasons later, but the raw materials were already visible, and the League Cup final was an early example of him scoring in a final rather than merely entertaining in one.
Germany 2006: the quarter-final against England
The defining match of Ronaldo's 2006 came on 1 July 2006, in the World Cup quarter-final between England and Portugal in Gelsenkirchen. The match finished goalless after 120 minutes, and Portugal won the penalty shoot-out 3-1, with Ronaldo scoring the decisive spot kick. The incident everyone remembers happened in the 62nd minute, when Rooney was sent off for stamping on Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho. Ronaldo, Rooney's Manchester United team-mate, ran to the referee to protest, and television cameras then caught him winking towards the Portuguese bench after the red card was shown.
What happened next is a matter of record, and it is worth reporting carefully. Rooney pushed Ronaldo away in the moment, and the English press reaction was furious, with some reports claiming Ronaldo had said he would not return to Manchester. But Rooney himself later said he bore Ronaldo no ill feeling, that he would probably have done the same thing in Ronaldo's position, and that the wink, which he had not seen at the time, meant nothing to him. The two players returned to United together, and the supposed club-versus-country crisis never materialised. Any account that presents the wink as proof of a lasting feud contradicts what Rooney himself said afterwards.
Portugal advanced to the semi-finals, the furthest Ronaldo had taken his country at a World Cup at that point. The tournament also changed how England viewed him: from a talented young winger into a pantomime villain, booed at grounds across the country whenever United travelled. That hostility is the essential background to the 2006-07 season, because Ronaldo spent it playing through it.
The response: 2006-07 and the first title
The response was the best football of Ronaldo's life to that point. In 2006-07 he scored 17 Premier League goals in 34 games, and 28 goals in 61 games in total, and Manchester United won the Premier League, his first league title at Old Trafford. He was no longer just a dribbler: he scored headers, free kicks and late winners, and he finished the season as the club's joint top scorer alongside Rooney, the same player whose sending-off had defined his summer.
This is also where a common error needs correcting. Ronaldo did not win the PFA Players' Player of the Year award in calendar 2006. He won it in the spring of 2007, for the 2006-07 season, becoming the first Portuguese player to win it, and then won it again in 2008, becoming only the second player after Thierry Henry to win it in consecutive years. Dating the award to 2006 compresses two different years into one and hides the real story, which is that the recognition came after the response, not during the controversy.
Playing through the boos
It is easy, from a distance, to treat the booing as background noise. It was not. Ronaldo was 21, playing in a league where every away crowd had a reason to target him, and his answer was to become more decisive rather than more cautious. Ferguson's handling of the situation mattered too: United did not sell him, did not hide him, and built the 2006-07 attack around his growing end product. The trust was repaid with a title, and the title changed the relationship permanently. By the end of 2006-07, the player England had booed in August was the player of the year in England.
That transformation is why 2006 belongs in any serious account of Ronaldo's career, even though his statistics for the calendar year itself look ordinary. The year contains the lowest point of his public reputation in England and the start of the climb out of it, and the climb is the more important half of the story.
What 2006 set up
The 2006-07 season was the bridge to 2007-08, when Ronaldo scored 42 goals for United alone, won the Premier League and Champions League double, and won his first Ballon d'Or, as covered in our Cristiano Ronaldo 2008 profile. Without the 2006 World Cup experience and the season that followed, that explosion is harder to explain. The controversy taught him, harshly, that reputation is decided by what happens next, and what happened next was the most productive football he had ever played.
For the full arc, see our Cristiano Ronaldo profile, our Cristiano Ronaldo career stats, and our analysis of when Cristiano Ronaldo's prime was. The 2006 story also matters for Portugal, because the semi-final run in Germany was the first sign that Ronaldo could carry his country deep into a tournament, a theme developed in our Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened between Ronaldo and Rooney at the 2006 World Cup?
In the quarter-final on 1 July 2006, Rooney was sent off in the 62nd minute for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho. Ronaldo, his Manchester United team-mate, approached the referee and was later seen winking towards the Portuguese bench. Portugal won the shoot-out 3-1, with Ronaldo scoring the decisive penalty.
Did Rooney and Ronaldo fall out over the 2006 incident?
No lasting feud followed. Rooney later said he bore Ronaldo no ill feeling, that he would probably have done the same thing, and that the wink meant nothing to him. The two continued as Manchester United team-mates.
What did Ronaldo win in 2006?
The League Cup with Manchester United, beating Wigan Athletic 4-0 in the final on 26 February 2006, with Ronaldo scoring in the 59th minute. His first Premier League title came the following season, in 2006-07.
When did Ronaldo win the PFA Players' Player of the Year award?
In the spring of 2007, for the 2006-07 season, not in calendar 2006. He won it again in 2008, becoming only the second player after Thierry Henry to win it in consecutive years.
How far did Portugal go at the 2006 World Cup?
Portugal reached the semi-finals after beating England on penalties in the quarter-final. The run was Ronaldo's first deep World Cup campaign with his country.
How many goals did Ronaldo score in 2006-07?
28 goals in 61 games in total, including 17 Premier League goals, as Manchester United won the Premier League title.
