Fernando José Torres Sanz was born 20 March 1984, nicknamed El Niño. Torres started his career with Atlético Madrid, progressing through their youth system to the first team squad. He made his first team debut in 2001 and finished his time at the club having scored 75 goals in 174 La Liga appearances. He is a Spanish footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Spain national team as a striker.
In 2009, it was reported that Torres has a personal fortune of £14 million. He features in the video for "Ya Nada Volverá A Ser Como Antes" by Spanish pop rock group El Canto del Loco, whose singer, Dani Martín, shares a strong friendship with the footballer. He makes a cameo appearance in the 2005 comedy film Torrente 3: El protector. In 2009, he released an autobiography entitled Torres: El Niño: My Story.
Prior to his La Liga debut, Torres played two seasons in the Segunda División for Atlético Madrid, making 40 appearances and scoring seven goals. Torres is a Spanish international and made his debut for the country against Portugal in 2003. He has since participated in four major tournaments, UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Torres did not score at Euro 2004, but netted three at the 2006 World Cup. He scored twice at UEFA Euro 2008, including the winning goal for Spain in their 1–0 win over Germany in the Final. He won the 2010 World Cup with Spain, but did not score any goals during the tournament. He joined Premier League club Liverpool in 2007 after signing for a club record transfer fee. He marked his first season at Anfield by being Liverpool's first player since Robbie Fowler in the 1995–96 season to score more than 20 league goals in a season. Torres became the fastest player in Liverpool history to score 50 league goals after scoring against Aston Villa in December 2009. He left the club in January 2011 to join Chelsea for a record British transfer fee of £50 million, which also made him the most expensive Spanish player in history.
He stated after the 2006 FIFA World Cup that he had turned down an offer to join Chelsea at the end of the 2005–06 season. Torres scored 14 league goals in the 2006–07 season. The English media reported that he was the main transfer target of Premier League Liverpool, but Cerezo stated "We've received no offer from Liverpool or any other club or player". However, a few days later, new reports suggested Atlético had agreed a deal with Liverpool for Torres; the fee was rumored to be £25 million with Luis García moving to Atlético in a separate transfer deal. On 30 June, Atlético announced a deal to sign Diego Forlán from Villarreal, in what was seen as a move to replace Torres before his departure became official. On 2 July, it was reported that Torres had cut short a vacation to fly back to Madrid to finalise the move to Liverpool. The following day, Torres passed a medical at Liverpool's Melwood training ground. He held a press conference in Madrid on 4 July to bid farewell to the Atlético fans, before completing his move to Liverpool on a six-year contract. The transfer fee was the highest in Liverpool's history. In March 2008, manager Rafael Benítez stated in an interview with The Times that Torres was acquired for around £20 million, although this figure takes into account García's move to Atlético.
After progressing through the ranks, Torres won his first important youth title in 1998. Atlético sent an under-15 team to compete in the Nike Cup, in Spain and Europe, to play against youth teams from other clubs; Atlético won the tournament. He was later voted the best player in Europe for the age group. In 1999, at the age of 15, Torres signed his first professional contract with Atlético. He spent his first year playing in the youth team and moved onto the participating in the Honor Division when he was 16. The 2000–01 season had started badly, as Torres suffered from a cracked shinbone which kept him out until December. Torres trained with the first team to get prepared for pre-season, but eventually made his debut for the team on 27 May 2001, at Vicente Calderón, against CD Leganés. A week later, he scored his first goal for the club against Albacete Balompié and the season finished with Atlético narrowly missing out on promotion to La Liga.
Atlético were promoted to La Liga at the end of the 2001–02 season, although Torres did not perform well in the season, as he netted only six times in 36 appearances in the Segunda División. Torres' first season in La Liga, 2002–03, was better, however, as he scored 13 goals in 29 appearances, with Atlético finishing in 11th place. In the 2003–04 season, his second in La Liga, Torres made further strides, scoring 19 league goals in 35 appearances, meaning he finished as joint third highest scorer in the league. At the age of 19, Torres was named Atlético's captain. Atlético narrowly missed out on qualification for the UEFA Cup, but by finishing in seventh place in the 2003–04 season, they qualified for the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup, giving Torres a first taste of a competition at the European level. He scored two goals in the two fourth round matches against OFK Beograd, with one coming in each leg. Atlético reached the Final, but lost 3–1 on a penalty shoot-out to Villarreal CF following a 2–2 draw on aggregate. FA Premier League champions Chelsea were believed to be interested in signing Torres during the summer of 2005, but Atlético president Enrique Cerezo said that they had "no chance" of signing him. Cerezo later said in January 2006 that the club was willing to listen to offers for Torres, and Torres claimed Newcastle United of the FA Premier League had made a bid to sign him in March.
Torres' parents are José and Flori, and he has two older siblings, Israel (born 1977) and Maria Paz (born 1976). He married Olalla Domínguez Liste, with whom he had been in a relationship since 2001, on 27 May 2009 in a private ceremony with just two guests at the local town hall in El Escorial, Madrid. They had been an item for eight years and are thought to have met in the Galician seaside town of Estorde, where Torres would go on family holidays each year to escape the Spanish capital. The couple have two children, a daughter, Nora, born on 8 July 2009 at the Hospital La Rosaleda, in Santiago de Compostela, and a son, born on 6 December 2010 at Liverpool Women's Hospital, with Torres missing the fixture against Aston Villa at Anfield.
