| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima | ||
| Date of birth | 18 September 1976 | ||
| Place of birth | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.83 metres (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
A brilliant and fluid forward, Ronaldo became one of international soccer’s great stars of the 1990s and Brazil’s biggest soccer hero since Pele. Nicknamed “The Phenomenon,” the talented forward has played for Cruzeiro, Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and AC Milan, amassing numerous records, championships, and cups. An international superstar, Ronaldo has been on the Brazilian national team since 1994 and was part of World Cup–winning teams in 1998 and in 2002, when he was the tournament’s top scorer
Club career:
1993: Cruzeiro
In 1993, Ronaldo began his football career playing for Cruzeiro which was already going on to become a successful club. In his first and only year with Cruzeiro, he amassed 12 goals in 14 appearances and led them to their first Copa do Brasil championship. Prior to this, he was turned down by his boyhood favourite team Flamengo, but Brazilian World Cup legend Jairzinho saw Ronaldo's potential and helped get him the move to Cruzeiro.
1994–1996: PSV Eindhoven
Ronaldo chose to join PSV after the 1994 World Cup, for he was selected despite being just 17, but did not play. It was Romário who advised Ronaldo to start his European career at PSV; Romário being a former striker of the team from 1988–1993. Ronaldo scored 30 league goals in his first season in Holland. His second season was marred by a knee injury which kept him out of most of the campaign, but he still averaged nearly a goal a game in the league, with 12 in his 13 appearances. With PSV, Ronaldo won the Dutch Cup in 1996 and he was Eredivisie top scorer in 1995.
1996–1997: Barcelona
During his spell at PSV, Ronaldo attracted the attention of notably Inter Milan and FC Barcelona. It was Barcelona that was willing to pay the then record fee of $17 million. During the 1996–97 season Ronaldo scored an incredible 47 goals in 49 games (in all competitions) for Barça, leading the Catalan side to UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph (where he capped the season with the winning goal in the cup final itself) and to Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España wins. He also won La Liga top scorer award in 1997 with 34 goals in 37 games. Until the 2008–09 season, Ronaldo remained the last player to score more than 30 goals in La Liga. At the age of 20, Ronaldo became the youngest player to win FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996. He also finished runner-up for the Ballon d'Or.
1997–2002: Inter Milan
Ronaldo's time at Barça was brief, as there were problems with the renegotiation of Ronaldo's contract. Ronaldo's unhappiness became evident and at the end of the season, by paying the buy out clause fee in his contract, Inter Milan signed him the following year for a then world record fee of £19 million. Ronaldo duly helped them repeat his former side's cup-winning run, this time in the UEFA Cup, in which he scored their third goal in the final itself.
2002–2006: Real Madrid
Having signed for Real Madrid C.F. for €46 million, his jersey sales broke all records on the first day, such was the obsession and hype surrounding him. He was sidelined through injury until October 2002 but the fans kept on chanting his name. Ronaldo scored twice in his debut for Real Madrid. He received a standing ovation at the Stadium Bernabéu. That same reception was observed on the night of the final game of the season against Athletic Bilbao, where Ronaldo scored again to seal his first season with 23 league goals and the La Liga Championship title for 2003, which Ronaldo had previously failed to win while with FC Barcelona. With Madrid, he also won an Intercontinental Cup in 2002 and Spanish Super Cup in 2003.
In the second leg of Real Madrid's Champions League quarter-final, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Manchester United at Old Trafford, knocking the English team out of the competition. Madrid was on track to win the treble until Ronaldo was injured towards the end of the 2003–04 season; they subsequently lost the Copa del Rey final, were knocked out of the Champions league quarter-finals, and suffered a league form breakdown. That season, he finished as the league's top scorer with 24 goals and was awarded the Pichichi Trophy, despite Madrid losing the league title to Valencia CF. With the acquisition of Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2006, Ronaldo grew more and more out of favour with the manager Fabio Capello due to injuries and weight issues.
2007–2008: AC Milan
On 18 January 2007, it was reported that Ronaldo agreed terms with A.C. Milan for a transfer of €8.05 million. Ronaldo was forced to pay for the remaining period on his contract which tied him to Real Madrid, only because the latter did not agree to release him, while AC Milan were not ready to pay such a sum.On 13 February 2008, Ronaldo suffered a severe season-ending knee injury while jumping for a cross in AC Milan's 1–1 draw with Livorno, and was stretchered off and taken to a hospital. The club confirmed after the match that Ronaldo had ruptured the kneecap ligament in his left knee. It marked the third such occurrence of this injury, which he suffered twice to his right knee in 1998 and 2000. He was released by AC Milan at the end of the season, as his contract expired and was not renewed.
2009–2011: Corinthians
Ronaldo trained with Flamengo during his recovery from knee surgery, and the club's board of directors said that the doors were open for him to join. On 9 December, however, Ronaldo signed a one-year deal with Flamengo's league rival Corinthians.The announcement received high publicity in the Brazilian press about his favouring Corinthians over Flamengo, since Ronaldo publicly declared himself a Flamengo lover and had promised to defend the club.In February 2011, after Corinthians were eliminated from the 2011 Copa Libertadores by the Colombian team Deportes Tolima, Ronaldo announced his retirement from football. In an emotional press conference on 14 February 2011, he admitted his body had finally succumbed to the crippling litany of injuries that have blighted his career. "It's very hard to leave something that made me so happy. Mentally I wanted to continue but I have to acknowledge that I lost to my body," he stated.
International career:
1998 FIFA World Cup
Voted the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997, he scored four goals and made three assists during the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The night before the final, he suffered a convulsive fit. At first, Ronaldo was removed from the starting lineup 72 minutes before the match, but he requested to play and was later reinstated by coach Mario Zagallo. Ronaldo did not perform well and he was injured in a collision with French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. Brazil lost the final to hosts France 3–0. Adrian Williams, professor of clinical neurology at Birmingham University, said that Ronaldo should not have played, saying that he would have been feeling the after effects of the seizure and that "there is no way that he would have been able to perform to the best of his ability within 24 hours of his first fit – if it was his first fit."
2002 FIFA World Cup
During the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Ronaldo again led the national team to their record fifth championship and won the Golden Shoe as top scorer with eight goals and was runner-up to the Golden Ball as most valuable player in the tournament. He also scored against every opponent in the tournament except in the quarter-finals against England. In the final match against Germany, Ronaldo scored his 11th and 12th goals to a round of applause and tied Pelé's Brazilian record of 12 career World Cup goals.
2006 FIFA World Cup
At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, although Brazil won their first two group games against Croatia and Australia, respectively, Ronaldo was repeatedly jeered for being overweight and slow. Nonetheless, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira kept him in the starting lineup in face of calls to have Ronaldo replaced. With his two goals against Japan in the third match, he became the 20th player ever to score in three different FIFA World Cups and also equalled the all-time World Cup finals scoring record of 14, held by Gerd Müller (Ronaldo scored at France 98, Korea/Japan 2002 and Germany 2006). and then broke Müller's record in the Round of 16 match against Ghana by scoring his 15th World Cup goal. He also equalled a much less talked about mark: with his third goal of the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo became only the second player ever, after Jürgen Klinsmann, to score at least three goals in each of three World Cups. Brazil, however, were knocked out by France 1–0 in the quarter-finals.
Ronaldo and Klinsmann's record of at least three goals in each of three World Cup finals has now been both equalled and bettered by the German Miroslav Klose, who now has a record of at least four goals in each of three tournaments, having netted five at both the 2002 and 2006 finals, and four at the 2010 tournament.
Farewell match
In February 2011 it was announced that Ronaldo will be given one very last match for Brazil, five years after his last match with the national team, a friendly against Romania was held in São Paulo on 7 June 2011.
