[4][5] Born in Seville, Ramos played in Sevilla's youth academy and spent two seasons with the senior team, before moving to Real Madrid in the summer of 2005.

[15] During the 2006–07 season, Ramos scored five goals, including one in a 3–3 El Clásico draw with Barcelona, as Real Madrid won a record 30th league title.

Although Ramos experienced a slight dip in form during the early part of the 2008–09 season, he returned to his best and on 11 January 2009, scoring an acrobatic volley in a 3–0 triumph at Mallorca.

In the subsequent victory procession, while celebrating on the top of the club's bus, he accidentally lost hold of the cup, which fell under the wheels of the vehicle; the trophy was dented as a result.

[41] He scored in both the semi-final and the final of the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup and was voted the Player of the Match in both as Real Madrid won the tournament in Morocco.

[46] The following 13 March, he received his 20th red card for Real Madrid in a 2–1 win over Las Palmas, having earlier scored the game's opening goal with a header from an Isco corner kick.

After a second-half equalizer from Atlético, he then scored a penalty in the shoot-out which resulted in Real Madrid winning 5–3; thus, he lifted his first UEFA Champions League trophy as a captain.

[47] According to author Michael Cox, he also notably "tipped the balance of the game toward Real Madrid" by tripping Yannick Carrasco up and stopping a three-on-one counter in stoppage time, with 30 seconds remaining and the score 1–1.

Ramos started in the 2016 UEFA Super Cup in Trondheim, scoring Real Madrid's equalizing second goal of the match in the 93rd minute, and hence bringing the game into extra-time.

[50] On 3 December 2016, he scored his fourth Clásico goal, an equalizer against Barcelona in a 1–1 draw at the Camp Nou in the 90th minute, extending Madrid's unbeaten run to 33 games.

[64] Ramos' performance in the final, however, was met with criticism;[65] a challenge on Mohamed Salah resulted in the Egyptian dislocating his shoulder and missing the rest of the game,[66] and he hit Liverpool keeper Loris Karius in the head with his elbow, the goalkeeper later being diagnosed with concussion.

[87] Four days later, in the 2–1 Champions League Round of 16 first leg away win over Ajax, Ramos became just the seventh player to play 600 matches for Real Madrid.

[97] Ramos took to his Twitter and Instagram accounts to discuss the controversy surrounding his actions in which he admitted forcing the yellow card against Ajax in the first leg 'was an error and I take the blame 200%'.

[105] A month later, Ramos scored another header in La Liga, this time away to Osasuna as Real Madrid won 4–1 to maintain top position in the table.

[111] When La Liga restarted after a three-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ramos scored in Real Madrid's first game back against Eibar on 14 June at the Alfredo di Stéfano Stadium in a 3–1 win.

[119] On 2 July 2020, Ramos scored his fifteenth consecutive penalty for Real Madrid in the 79th minute which proved to be the winner in a 1–0 home win against Getafe – opening up a four-point advantage at the top of La Liga.

[138] On 14 January, Ramos reportedly took four pain killer injections to his left knee to play against Athletic Bilbao in the 2020–21 Supercopa de España semi-final which Real Madrid went on to lose 2–1.

[146] On 5 May, in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Chelsea, his side lost 2–0 and were eliminated from the competition; however, he then sustained an injury in his left hamstring which forced him to miss the rest of the season; this meant he had played his last game for Real Madrid.

[155] Due to a series of injury problems, Ramos made his first appearance in a match day squad for Paris Saint-Germain ahead of a Champions League group stage game against Manchester City on 24 November 2021.

[171] On 29 November, he scored his first goal for Sevilla following his return in a 3–2 home defeat against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League, which also marked the 1000 appearance in professional football.

During the 2004 U19 Euro, Ramos was a key figure for Spain as he started in four out of five of their matches on the way to winning their second U19 European Championship, including scoring a decisive penalty in the Semi-final penalty-shoot out against Ukraine.

[184][185] Throughout Spain's UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, Ramos was a regular member of the starting eleven as the national side finished first in its group, above Sweden.

[201] With David de Gea selected ahead of Iker Casillas in Spain's starting line-up, Ramos captained the team at UEFA Euro 2016.

[222] On 6 September 2020, Ramos scored a brace in a 4–0 win over Ukraine for the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League, reaching 23 international goals and equaling Alfredo Di Stéfano as Spain's eighth-highest all-time goalscorer.

[223] On 14 November 2020, in a 1–1 draw against Switzerland, he made his 177th appearance for Spain and overtook Gianluigi Buffon's record for the most international caps received by a European player.

[227] Ramos announced his retirement from international football on 23 February 2023 at the age of 36, having not appeared for his country in nearly two years, after new coach Luis de la Fuente told him he would no longer be selected.

[230][231][232][233][239][240][241] According to Spanish sports newspaper Marca and FIFA's official records, in 2015, Ramos was clocked at a sprinting speed of 30.6 kilometers per hour, making him one of the fastest footballers at that time.

[263] Ramos holds multiple disciplinary records, for Real Madrid, the Champions League, La Liga, El Clásico, and the Spain national team.

[284] Ramos has more than 42 tattoos, including Jesus, Mary, the Star of David, a lion, a wolf, a dreamcatcher, the map of Spain, the Native American chief, the hamsa, the FIFA World Cup and Champions League trophies, and his family members.

[287] This sparked controversy as Real Madrid lost the match and were eliminated from the Champions League, though Ramos said on social media that there were "certain commitments made and it never remotely went through my head that the game could have turned out as it did".