Ronaldinho Biography
Soccer Player (1980–)
Soccer superstar Ronaldinho was a member of Brazil's 2002 World Cup championship team and twice won the FIFA World Player of the Year award.
Synopsis
Born on March 21, 1980, in Porto Alegre, Brazil,
Ronaldinho came from a family of soccer players to reach the pinnacle of
success in the sport. After a celebrated youth career, Ronaldinho became a key
member of the Brazilian team that won the 2002 World Cup. He has played for
clubs in Brazil, France, Spain and Italy, and twice been named FIFA World
Player of the Year.
Early Life
Ronaldinho was born Ronaldo de Assis Moreira on
March 21, 1980, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. His father, João Moreira, was a former
professional soccer player who also worked as a welder in a shipyard, and his
mother, Miguelina de Assis, was a cosmetics saleswoman who later became a
nurse. Ronaldinho's older brother, Roberto Assis, was also a professional
soccer player; Ronaldinho was surrounded by soccer from the day he was born.
"I come from a family where soccer has always been very present," he says.
"My uncles, my father and my brother were all players. Living with that
kind of background, I learned a great deal from them. I tried to devote myself
to it more and more with the passage of time."
In particular, Ronaldinho idolized his father.
"He was one of the most important people for me and in my career, even
though he died when I was very young," he says. (João Moreira suffered a
fatal heart attack when Ronaldinho was 8 years old.) "He gave me some of
the best advice I've ever had. Off the field: 'Do the right thing and be an
honest, straight-up guy.' And on the field: 'Play soccer as simply as
possible.' He always said one of the most complicated things you can do is to
play it simple."
Ronaldinho began playing organized youth soccer at
the age of 7, and it was as a youth soccer player that he first received the
nickname "Ronaldinho," the diminutive form of his birth name,
Ronaldo. "They always called me that when I was little because I was
really small," the player explains, "and I played with players who were
older than me. When I got to the senior national team there was another
Ronaldo, so they started calling me Ronaldinho because I was younger."
Growing up in a relatively poor, hardscrabble
neighborhood, Ronaldinho's youth teams had to make do with makeshift playing
fields. "The only grass on the field was in the corner," Ronaldinho
remembers. "There was no grass in the middle! It was just sand." In
addition to soccer, Ronaldinho also played futsal—an offshoot of soccer played
indoors on a hard court surface and with only five players on each side.
Ronaldinho's early experiences with futsal helped shape his unique playing
style, marked by his remarkable touch and close control on the ball. "A
lot of the moves I make originate from futsal," Ronaldinho once said,
explaining, "It's played in a very small space, and the ball control is
different in futsal. And to this day, my ball control is pretty similar to a
futsal player's control."
Ronaldinho quickly developed into one of Brazil's
most talented youth soccer players. When he was 13 years old, he once scored a
ridiculous 23 goals in a single game. While leading his team to a variety of
junior championships, Ronaldinho immersed himself in Brazil's long and glorious
soccer history, studying past greats such as Pelé, Rivelino and Ronaldo, and
dreaming of following in their footsteps. Then, in 1997, a teenaged Ronaldinho
won a call-up to Brazil's Under-17 national team. The squad won the FIFA
Under-17 World Championship in Egypt, and Ronaldinho was selected as the
tournament's best player. Soon afterward, Ronaldinho signed his first
professional contract to play for Grêmio, one of the most celebrated teams in
the Brazilian league.
Professional Career
Ronaldinho made his senior debut for Grêmio in the
1998 Copa Libertadores tournament. The next year, he was invited to join the
senior Brazilian national team to compete in the Confederations Cup in Mexico.
Brazil turned in a second-place finish, and Ronaldinho won the Golden Ball
Award as the tournament's best player as well as the Golden Boot Award as its
leading goal scorer.
Firmly established as a star on the international
stage, in 2001 Ronaldinho left Brazil for Europe, signing a contract to play
for Paris Saint-Germain in France. A year later, he participated in his first
World Cup on a loaded Brazilian squad that also featured Ronaldo and Rivaldo.
Ronaldinho scored two goals in five matches, including the game-winner in a
quarter-final victory over England, and Brazil went on to defeat Germany in the
finals to claim its fifth World Cup title.
In 2003, Ronaldinho fulfilled a lifelong dream by
joining FC Barcelona of the Spanish league, one of the world's most storied
clubs, and winning the legendary No. 10 jersey typically worn by the squad's
greatest creative player. In 2004 and 2005, Ronaldinho won back-to-back FIFA
World Player of the Year awards, the sport's highest individual honor. He also
led his teammates to the pinnacle of club success in 2006 with a triumphant run
through the prestigious Champions League tournament. The following month,
Ronaldinho headlined a very talented Brazilian squad that entered the World Cup
with sky-high expectations. The tournament ended in disappointment for the
defending champs, though, as France knocked Brazil out with a stunning upset in
the quarter-finals.
In 2008, Ronaldinho left Barcelona to join another
of the world's most renowned clubs, A.C. Milan, but his performance for the
Italian Series A giant was mostly nondescript. Underscoring his fading status,
the former World Player of the Year was not included in the 2010 Brazilian team
that competed in the World Cup in South Africa.
In 2011, Ronaldinho returned to Brazil to play for
Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro. The relationship between the club and its most
prominent player got off to a great start when Flamengo won the 2011 Campeonato
Carioca, but things turned sour by the following season. Ronaldinho missed
several practices and performed indifferently in games, and eventually had his
contract terminated due to unpaid wages. Ronaldinho signed with Atlético
Mineiro in June 2012, a move that reignited his dynamic playmaking abilities,
and he was given another shot with the national team to make the 2014 World Cup
roster.
Personal Life
and Legacy
In 2005, Ronaldinho and Brazilian dancer Janaína
Mendes had a son, named João, after Ronaldinho's late father. The Brazilian
superstar remains close to his family, with brother Roberto serving as his
agent and sister Deisy acting as his press coordinator.
An absolute wizard with a soccer ball, Ronaldinho
is considered by many to be the greatest player of his generation and one of
the best in history. He says that his soccer career has been an emotional
roller coaster filled with high highs, low lows and a lifetime of unforgettable
moments. "For me soccer provides so many emotions, a different feeling
every day," Ronaldinho says. "I've had the good fortune to take part
in major competitions like the Olympics, and winning the World Cup was also
unforgettable. We lost in the Olympics and won in the World Cup, and I'll never
forget either feeling."
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FACTS
NAme: Ronaldinho
AKA: Ronaldinho
FULL NAME: Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
“I come from a family where soccer has always been very
present.”
—Ronaldinho
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