Airport officially named after Cristiano Ronaldo

A woman poses next to the bust of Cristiano Ronaldo at the Madeira international airport. (Armando Franca/AP)

FUNCHAL, Portugal – Cristiano Ronaldo now has an international airport named after him.

The Real Madrid striker was joined Wednesday by dozens of guests and hundreds of fans in his native Madeira Islands for an official ceremony renaming the local airport as Aeroporto Cristiano Ronaldo.

Portugal’s president and the prime minister flew to the island and unveiled a commemorative plaque.

The 32-year-old Ronaldo is a local hero in Madeira, where he is seen as a rags-to-riches success.

Ronaldo is not the first soccer player with his name on an airport. In Northern Ireland, an airport was renamed George Best Belfast City Airport in 2006, a year after the local player and former Manchester United winger died.

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