--- title: ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Goes International With Cristiano Ronaldo description: Everyone from Ricky Gervais to Cristiano Ronaldo have joined in on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge canonical: https://time.com/3136487/als-ice-bucket-challenge-international/ author: Megan Gibson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-18T16:35:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:42.165Z article:section: Health og:title: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge goes global og:description: Ronaldo and Ricky Gervais have joined in og:url: https://time.com/3136487/als-ice-bucket-challenge-international/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc808eb66a510bf19/69869fe455a8594adca8233f/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2956 og:image:height: 1663 og:image:alt: Previews - UEFA Super Cup og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge goes global twitter:description: Ronaldo and Ricky Gervais have joined in twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc808eb66a510bf19/69869fe455a8594adca8233f/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Goes International > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Watch Conan Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Conan Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/khxRN3zV.m3u8) (0:52)  _Published 2014-08-15. Watch Conan Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge_ by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Aug 18, 2014 4:35 PM UTC  Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid looks on during a training session ahead of the UEFA Super Cup at Cardiff City Stadium on Aug. 11, 2014 in Cardiff, Wales. Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid looks on during a training session ahead of the UEFA Super Cup at Cardiff City Stadium on Aug. 11, 2014 in Cardiff, Wales.Chris Brunskill—Getty Images by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Aug 18, 2014 4:35 PM UTC What spread across the U.S. like wildfire has now gone global, as actors and sports figures in Europe have taken up the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The challenge, which is likely clogging up your Facebook feed right now, began as a way to raise awareness for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. People have been challenging their friends and relatives to either dump a bucket of ice water over their head or donate $100 to an ALS-related charity. As the videos have gone viral — and [millions of dollars](http://time.com/3111699/ice-bucket-challenge-als-donations/) have been donated to ALS research — it wasn’t surprising that celebrities quickly got involved. Real Madrid soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the latest celebrities to take up the viral video challenge after being nominated by Manchester United player Darren Fletcher. A shirtless Ronaldo then nominated Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and Lil Wayne. But he’s just the latest high-profile figure outside the U.S. to embrace the challenge. British comedy star Ricky Gervais was nominated by former _Extras_ co-star Ben Stiller, according to his video, and he in turn nominated Andy Murray and Russell Crowe. Meanwhile, Liverpool Football Club captain Steven Gerrard also took on the challenge. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a craze if morning TV presenters didn’t get in on the action. TV presenters Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard opted to get doused live on Good Morning Britain on Monday. One European who hasn’t taken part yet is Victoria Beckham, despite being [nominated by her friend Eva Longoria](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gu%5F3CYGXDg). Somehow we can’t quite see the always-impeccably-made-up Posh Spice willingly dousing herself with ice cold water, so perhaps she’ll add to the over $10 million raised by the craze so far. So far, more than [1.2 million people](http://time.com/3117501/als-ice-bucket-challenge-videos-on-facebook/) have shared their own ALS Ice Bucket videos on Facebook, proving that this challenge has taken on a life of its own. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3136487/als-ice-bucket-challenge-international/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3136487/als-ice-bucket-challenge-international/"},"headline":"ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Goes International","datePublished":"2014-08-18T16:35:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:42.165Z","description":"European celebrities from Ricky Gervais to Cristiano Ronaldo have dumped buckets of ice on their heads to raise awareness for ALS","url":"https://time.com/3136487/als-ice-bucket-challenge-international/","keywords":["viral","Newsfeed","health","Cristiano Ronaldo","Viral Videos","ALS","als ice bucket challenge"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc808eb66a510bf19/69869fe455a8594adca8233f/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Gibson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc808eb66a510bf19/69869fe455a8594adca8233f/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Previews - UEFA Super Cup","caption":"Previews - UEFA Super Cup","creditText":"Chris Brunskill—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/viral/","name":"viral"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3136487/als-ice-bucket-challenge-international/","name":"ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Goes International"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch Conan Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge","description":"Watch Conan Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/khxRN3zV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-15T11:40:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/khxRN3zV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3136487/als-ice-bucket-challenge-international/","duration":"PT52S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3136487/als-ice-bucket-challenge-international/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```