[bbfan1991]

Real Madrid's Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo has become a father, according to an announcement on his Twitter and Facebook pages as well as reports in Portuguese media.

In a statement, Ronaldo said that he had "recently become father to a baby boy". The Portuguese daily newspaper Correio da Manhã said that Gestifute, the company run by Ronaldo's agent, had confirmed the news.

Ronaldo has declined to identify the mother, but Correio da Manhã reported that she "is from north America and she had her child in early June", according to Agence France-Presse. In an unusual twist, Ronaldo has also said he is to take sole responsibility for the child.

The message posted on Ronaldo's official social networking sites reads: "It is with great joy and emotion that I inform I have recently become father to a baby boy. As agreed with the baby's mother, who prefers to have her identity kept confidential, my son will be under my exclusive guardianship.

"No further information will be provided on this subject and I request everyone to fully respect my right to privacy (and that of the child) at least on issues as personal as these are."

Ronaldo, who joined Madrid from Manchester United last summer in an £80m deal, has recently returned home from the World Cup in South Africa, where Portugal were eliminated at the last-16 stage