The ceremony to rename the airport was attended by Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, prime minister, António Costa, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The president of Madeira said the football player was a “great Portuguese” and a man who by his talent and hard work surpassed the frontiers of the island and became the best football player in the world.
“He is the best-known Portuguese person and he is admired on all continents by all generations”, Miguel Albuquerque said, stressing that “despite his fame, he never turned his back on the region or his country and always helped those who most needed it, mostly anonymously”.