Ronaldo

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Ronaldo Luiz Nazário de Lima (born September 22, 1976), simply known as Ronaldo, is a Brazilian professional footballer. He holds dual citizenship with Spain. He plays as a striker for Brazil and the Spanish club Real Madrid. He has been nicknamed "The Phenomenon" (Portuguese: , Spanish: ), "Boy Wonder", "The Kid", and among other names. Ronaldo's speed, dribbling ability and goalscoring instincts have made him into what many believe to be one of the greatest footballers of all time.

He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. Ronaldo has enjoyed success at the international level, winning the 1994 and 2002 FIFA World Cups with Brazil. Ronaldo has won three FIFA World Player of the Year awards (1996, 1997, 2002). Ronaldo and former Real Madrid teammate Zinedine Zidane are the only two men to have won the award three times.

Personal life

Ronaldo was born in Bento Ribeiro, a neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Like many of his contemporaries, he began to play football in the streets of his neighbourhood.

In April 1999, Ronaldo married Milene Domingues. The marriage lasted four years and ended in divorce. The couple had a son, Ronald (born 2000). In 2005, he got engaged to Brazilian model and MTV VJ Daniella Cicarelli, who became pregnant but suffered a miscarriage; their relationship lasted 3 months after their engagement. He is currently dating Brazilian supermodel Raica Oliveira. Writer Andrew Downie asserted a correlation between Ronaldo's personal life and performance on the pitch, noting that his most prolific periods of goalscoring have coincided with the times when he was happily married

In 2005, Ronaldo became co-owner of A1 Team Brazil, alongside Brazilian motorsports legend Emerson Fittipaldi. The team participates in the newly launched A1 Grand Prix series, with Nelson Piquet, Jr., Tony Kanaan and João Paulo Oliveira as drivers.

Football career

Ronaldo's footballing abilities were first recognised when he was 14. He was recommended to the Brazil youth team by World Cup winner Jairzinho, who also arranged for his own former club, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, to sign him when he was old enough for a professional contract. Ronaldo scored 12 goals in 14 games in the Brazilian National Championship, and in the Minas Gerais State Championship he scored all three goals in Cruzeiro's 3-1 victory against arch-rival Atlético Mineiro. He was soon transferred for US$6 million to PSV Eindhoven, and later attracted the attention of Spain's FC Barcelona. He played for Barça in the 1996-1997 season, scoring 34 goals in 37 appearances (47 in 49, including appearances in the Copa del Rey and European Cup Winners Cup), then transferred to Inter Milan the following year.

Voted the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997, he also scored four goals and made four assists during the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Brazil lost the final to hosts 3-0 after he suffered a convulsive fit the night before. 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." A year after the 1998 World Cup, he severely injured his right knee and was out of the game for several months. During his first comeback in 2000, he played only seven minutes during a league game against Lazio before injuring his knee for a second time.

After two operations and 20 months of rehabilitation, Ronaldo came back for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, in which he scored two goals against in the final. Ronaldo was the top scorer of the 2002 World Cup with eight goals, helping Brazil win their fifth World Cup title. Later in 2002 he won the World Player of the Year award for the third time, and transferred from Inter to Real Madrid for approximately €39,000,000, after frequent disputes with Inter coach Héctor Cúper. His transfer to Madrid was the subject of a media frenzy not just laced with the usual hype because of his reputation, but more so because he was now the third successive Galactico (or superstar) signed in as many years by the Spanish giants as part of their policy of signing the world's biggest superstar football players in order to maintain their levels of success whilst broadening their reaches of fame.

Ronaldo was such a well known signing that sales of his shirt on the day of his signing alone broke all records the world over. Proof of his fame came with the fact that even though Ronaldo was sidelined through injury until October 2002, fans continued to chant his name in the stands. Ronaldo scored twice in his debut for Real Madrid. 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 (not including the goals in the UEFA Champions League that included a hat-trick away at Manchester United) and the La Liga Championship title for 2003, which Ronaldo had previously failed to win whilst at FC Barcelona.

According to reports, Ronaldo turned down a ten-year, US$120 million contract from Red Bull New York of MLS in 2006, saying, "Right now I have a contract with Real Madrid and I'm only thinking about the World Cup, but without a doubt, the American market is one of my goals for the future." But in a statement issued to the press, Red Bull denied having made an offer.

International career

Ronaldo made his international debut for Brazil in 1994, in a friendly match in Recife against Argentina. He was known then as Ronaldinho, since Ronaldo Guiaro, his team-mate on the 1996 Olympic Games was called Ronaldo, because he was older. The current Ronaldinho was known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho until the Ronaldinho-to-Ronaldo change occurred. He went to the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA as a 17-year-old but did not play.

Ronaldo won the Golden Shoe as the top scorer in the 2002 FIFA World Cup with eight goals, two in the final against Germany. He also equaled Pelé's Brazilian record of 12 World Cup Finals goals, adding to the four he scored in the 1998 tournament.

On June 2 2004, Ronaldo scored an unusual hat-trick for Brazil against arch-rivals Argentina in a CONMEBOL qualifier for the 2006 World Cup, scoring all three of Brazil's goals from the penalty spot.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals started badly for Ronaldo. He appeared to be mildly overweight, played poorly in the first two matches against Croatia and Australia and was replaced by Robinho in both matches. He was becoming increasingly unpopular among Brazilian supporters. Despite the fans' desire for him to be dropped, Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira persisted with his inclusion for the final group match against Japan, although Brazil had already qualified for the second round. Ronaldo, despite being relatively static, scored the equalizer in stoppage time at the end of the first half, and again in the second period, to draw equal with Gerd Müller as the all-time World Cup Finals top scorer with 14 goals. BBC commentator Martin O'Neill described him as a "stone overweight" during the match.

On June 22, 2006, Brazil's team trainer revealed that Ronaldo's weight was 90.5 kilograms (199.5 pounds), half a kilogram more than ideal weight for a man of his height of 1.83 metres (6 feet).

With his two goals against Japan, he became the 20th player ever to score in three different FIFA World Cups. Ronaldo scored in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. On June 27 2006, he broke the all-time World Cup Finals scoring record of 14, held by Gerd Müller after scoring his 15th World Cup goal against Ghana in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Round of 16. He also equaled a much less talked about mark: with his third goal of the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo became only the second player ever (Jürgen Klinsmann being the other) to score at least three goals in each of three world cups. As of July 1, 2006, he had scored 62 goals in 97 international matches.Ronaldo player profile at the official 2006 FIFA World Cup site

Ronaldo's bid for successive World Cup medals ended with Brazil's 1-0 loss to France. In the wake of this defeat 29 year-old Ronaldo pledged that he will play for Brazil in the years to come and in the 2010 World Cup.

Philanthropy

Ronaldo became a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador in 2000. "No one should be doomed to a life of poverty, whether by birth or as a consequence of war," Ronaldo said."Soccer superstar fulfils poor boy’s promise" from the United Nations Development Programme site

Honors and awards

FIFA World Player of the Year: 1996 (youngest winner), 1997, 2002
European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or): 1997, 2002
UEFA Most Valuable Player - 1998
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality: 2002
FIFA World Cup
- 2006 All-Time World Cup Goalscorer - 15 Goals
- 2006 Bronze Boot - Third Top Scorer 3 goals & 1 assist in 5 games
- 2002 Golden Boot - Top Scorer 8 goals
- 2002 Silver Ball - 2nd Best Player
- 2002 Winner
- 1998 Golden Ball - Best Player
- 1998 Runner-up
- 1994 Winner
Brazilian Cup: Cruzeiro 1993
Dutch Cup: PSV Eindhoven 1996
Cup Winners' Cup: FC Barcelona 1997
Confederations Cup: 1997
Copa América: 1997, 1999
UEFA Cup: Internazionale 1998
Intercontinental Cup: Real Madrid 2002
European Super Cup: Real Madrid 2002
La Liga - Primera División champions: Real Madrid 2002/2003
Spanish Super Cup: FC Barcelona 1996, Real Madrid 2003

Notes and references

External links