Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima, known as Ronaldo or Ronaldo Nazario, is a Brazilian business owner and president of La Liga club Real Valladolid, owner of Brasileiro Serie A club Cruzeiro, and a former professional footballer who played as a striker.
105 Facts About Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer)
2.
Ronaldo started his career at Cruzeiro and moved to PSV in 1994.
3.
Ronaldo joined Barcelona in 1996 for a then world record transfer fee and at 20 years old, he was named the 1996 FIFA World Player of the Year, making him the youngest recipient of the award.
4.
In 1997, Inter Milan broke the world record fee to sign Ronaldo, making him the first player since Diego Maradona to break the world transfer record twice.
5.
Ronaldo had spells at AC Milan and Corinthians before retiring in 2011, having suffered further injuries.
6.
Ronaldo played for Brazil in 98 matches, scoring 62 goals and is the third-highest goalscorer for his national team.
7.
At the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Ronaldo received the Golden Ball as the player of the tournament after he helped Brazil reach the final, where he suffered a convulsive fit hours before kick-off.
8.
Ronaldo won the 2002 FIFA World Cup, starring in a front three with Ronaldinho and Rivaldo.
9.
Ronaldo scored twice in the final and received the Golden Boot as the tournament's top goalscorer.
10.
At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Ronaldo scored his 15th World Cup goal, a tournament record at the time.
11.
Ronaldo won the 1997 Copa America, where he became the player of the tournament and the 1999 Copa America, where he was the top goalscorer.
12.
Ronaldo was one of the most marketable sportsmen in the world during his playing career.
13.
Ronaldo was named in the FIFA 100 list of the greatest living players compiled in 2004 by Pele and was inducted into the Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame, Italian Football Hall of Fame, Inter Milan Hall of Fame and Real Madrid Hall of Fame.
14.
In 2020, Ronaldo was named in the Ballon d'Or Dream Team, a greatest all-time XI published by France Football magazine.
15.
Ronaldo has continued his work as a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, a position to which he was appointed in 2000.
16.
Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima was born on 18 September 1976 in Rio de Janeiro as the third child of Nelio Nazario de Lima Snr.
17.
Ronaldo played on the streets of Bento Ribeiro, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro.
18.
Ronaldo quickly attracted attention from big clubs, and his agents rejected offers from Botafogo and Sao Paulo.
19.
Ronaldo was turned down by Flamengo, the team he supported as a boy, after missing practice due to an inability to afford the fare for the hour-long bus ride.
20.
Three months after arriving at Cruzeiro, Ronaldo made his professional debut on 25 May 1993 against Caldense in the Minas Gerais State Championship.
21.
Ronaldo came to national public attention on 7 November 1993, scoring five goals in the game against Bahia.
22.
Ronaldo scored 44 goals in 47 games with Cruzeiro, leading them to their first Copa do Brasil in 1993, and the Minas Gerais State Championship in 1994.
23.
Ronaldo was selected for the tournament despite being just 17, but did not play in any games.
24.
On 28 August 1994, Ronaldo scored ten minutes into his debut against Vitesse, and scored a brace on his home debut against Go Ahead Eagles.
25.
Ronaldo scored 30 league goals in his first season in the Netherlands, which included seven braces and a hat-trick against Utrecht.
26.
Ronaldo won La Liga top scorer award in 1997 with 34 goals in 37 games, and the European Golden Shoe.
27.
Ronaldo was at his physical peak at Barcelona, and many of his 47 goals involved him rounding the goalkeeper before slotting the ball into the net.
28.
Ronaldo was slim and powerful, skillful, fast and deadly.
29.
Ronaldo signed a five-year contract with the Italians, and was unveiled to 4000 Inter fans at their training ground.
30.
Ronaldo adapted to the Italian style of the game in his first season, finishing with 25 Serie A goals, and was named Serie A Footballer of the Year.
31.
Ronaldo began racking up assists, became first-choice penalty taker, taking and scoring freekicks.
32.
Ronaldo scored a trademark goal against Lazio in the 1998 UEFA Cup Final.
33.
Ronaldo proved that he was a cut above the rest that season.
34.
Ronaldo was part of the Galacticos era of global stars signed by the club every summer, which included Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos and David Beckham.
35.
Ronaldo was sidelined through injury until October 2002 which added to the fans anticipation.
36.
Ronaldo scored twice on his debut against Alaves, the first 61 seconds after coming on.
37.
That same reception was observed at the final game of the season against Athletic Bilbao, where Ronaldo scored to finish his first season with 23 league goals and seal La Liga title for 2003.
38.
Ronaldo won an Intercontinental Cup in 2002 and Supercopa de Espana in 2003, scoring in both finals.
39.
Ronaldo finished the season as La Liga's top scorer with 25 goals and received the Pichichi Trophy for a second time, despite Madrid losing the league title to Valencia.
40.
In four and a half seasons at the club, Ronaldo scored over a century of goals, becoming the fifth foreigner at Madrid to achieve the feat after Argentine Alfredo Di Stefano, Hungarian Ferenc Puskas, Mexican Hugo Sanchez and Chilean Ivan Zamorano.
41.
Ronaldo is one of the few players to have started for Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, which boasts a heated rivalry.
42.
Ronaldo only played 300-plus minutes in his second season at Milan due to recurring injury problems and weight issues.
43.
The club confirmed after the match that Ronaldo had ruptured the kneecap ligament in his left knee.
44.
Ronaldo trained with Rio de Janeiro based Brazilian club Flamengo during his recovery from knee surgery, and the club's board of directors said that the doors were open for him to join.
45.
The announcement received much publicity in the Brazilian press about his choice of Corinthians over Flamengo, since Ronaldo publicly declared himself a Flamengo fan.
46.
Ronaldo responded that playing for Corinthians was the only option open to him.
47.
Ronaldo played his first match for Corinthians on 4 March 2009, a Copa do Brasil match against Itumbiara at Estadio Juscelino Kubitschek, in which he came as a substitute for Jorge Henrique.
48.
Ronaldo scored his first goal for Corinthians on 8 March 2009 in a Campeonato Paulista match against Palmeiras.
49.
Ronaldo finished the 2009 Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A with 12 goals in 20 matches.
50.
In February 2010, Ronaldo signed a contract extension with Corinthians that would keep him with the club until the end of 2011, and said he would then retire.
51.
In February 2011, after Corinthians were eliminated from the 2011 Copa Libertadores by the Colombian team Deportes Tolima, Ronaldo announced his retirement from football, concluding an 18-year career.
52.
Ronaldo made his international debut for Brazil on 23 March 1994 in a friendly match in Recife against Argentina.
53.
Ronaldo went to the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States aged 17, but did not play as Brazil went on to win the tournament.
54.
Ronaldo stated he was "overjoyed" at the experience.
55.
Ronaldo was then known as Ronaldinho, because Ronaldo Rodrigues de Jesus, his older teammate, was called Ronaldo and later nicknamed Ronaldao to further distinguish them.
56.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Ronaldo used the name Ronaldinho again, since centre-back Ronaldo Guiaro, two years his senior, was one of his teammates.
57.
Ronaldo represented Brazil in the 1995 Copa America and won both the 1997 and the 1999 editions of the tournament.
58.
Ronaldo was named player of the tournament in 1997, was the top scorer in 1999 and scored in the finals of both, against Bolivia in 1997 and Uruguay in 1999.
59.
Ronaldo took part in the friendly Tournoi de France in 1997, preceding the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring a goal as Brazil became runners-up.
60.
Ronaldo starred alongside Romario, dubbed the Ro-Ro attack, at the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, helping Brazil win their first ever Confederations Cup title where he finished as the third-highest scorer with 4 goals, scoring a hat-trick against Australia in the final.
61.
Ronaldo entered the 1998 FIFA World Cup billed as the world's greatest player by reporters in the sport.
62.
Hours before the final against France, Ronaldo suffered a convulsive fit.
63.
The starting line up without Ronaldo was released to a stunned world media.
64.
Ronaldo was the last Brazilian player out of the tunnel as the teams entered the field.
65.
Steinberg states that Ronaldo "sleepwalked" through the final, which saw him injured in a collision with French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.
66.
Zagallo admitted the fears over Ronaldo affected his team psychologically, and stated "for the whole of the first half I was wondering whether to take him off", but feared a public outcry in Brazil had he done so.
67.
Ronaldo spoke about his obsession with lifting the World Cup trophy, having missed out in 1998.
68.
Ronaldo scored against every opponent in the tournament except in the quarter-finals against England.
69.
Ronaldo revealed that "when I arrived in training with this haircut everybody stopped talking about the injury".
70.
Ronaldo was the first player to seek out German players to offer his condolences, before he was congratulated by Pele when receiving his World Cup winners medal.
71.
Ronaldo received a number of accolades for his achievement, including the Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year and the BBC World Sport Star of the Year, and in December 2002 he dedicated his third FIFA World Player of the Year award to the medical team which helped him recover.
72.
On 2 June 2004, Ronaldo scored an unusual hat-trick of penalties for Brazil against arch-rivals Argentina in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match, which put them top of the group.
73.
At the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo was part of a much-publicized "magic quartet" alongside Adriano, Ronaldinho and Kaka.
74.
Ronaldo then broke Muller's record in the Round of 16 match against Ghana by scoring his fifteenth-career World Cup goal.
75.
Ronaldo was awarded the Bronze Shoe as the third-highest goal-scorer of the World Cup.
76.
Ronaldo finished with fifteen goals in nineteen World Cup matches, for an average of 0.79 per game.
77.
In February 2011, it was announced that Ronaldo would be given one last match for Brazil, a friendly against Romania in Sao Paulo on 7 June 2011, five years after his last match with the national team.
78.
Ronaldo played for 15 minutes in a match that ended with a Brazilian victory with a goal from Fred.
79.
In January 2013, Ronaldo was named one of the six ambassadors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
80.
Ronaldo was chosen as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme in 2000 as he had the highest global appeal among sportspeople, and he accepted the role as he saw it as "an obligation" to help with causes around the world.
81.
Ronaldo played in the UNDP's 11th Match Against Poverty on 4 March 2014 against a Zidane XI in Bern, Switzerland, with proceeds raised helping the recovery efforts in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.
82.
On 14 June 2018, Ronaldo featured at the 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia.
83.
Ronaldo is regarded as one of the greatest and most complete forwards of all time.
84.
Ronaldo was an extremely powerful, fast, and technical player, with excellent movement, as well as being a composed finisher.
85.
Highly regarded for his technical ability, Ronaldo was able to use both feet, despite being naturally right footed, and is considered one of the most skilful dribblers in the game.
86.
Ronaldo was the fastest thing I've ever seen running with the ball.
87.
Ronaldo was so natural, so cool, so utterly in control.
88.
Ronaldo shifted boundaries, challenged convention, just as much as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have altered our perceptions of what a winger might be.
89.
Ronaldo is the hardest attacker I've ever had to face.
90.
In 2020, Ronaldo was named in the Ballon d'Or Dream Team, a greatest all-time XI published by France Football magazine.
91.
At his physical peak in the 1990s, Ronaldo became severely affected by the knee injuries he suffered from late 1999 onward and the subsequent weight gain during his inactivity, which limited his speed, fitness, and mobility.
92.
In December 2021, Ronaldo bought a controlling stake in his boyhood club Cruzeiro.
93.
In December 1999, Ronaldo married Brazilian footballer Milene Domingues, at the time pregnant with the couple's first son, Ronald, who was born in Milan, on 6 April 2000.
94.
In 2005, Ronaldo became engaged to Brazilian model and MTV VJ Daniela Cicarelli, who became pregnant but suffered a miscarriage; the relationship lasted only three months after their luxurious wedding at the Chateau de Chantilly.
95.
Paulo, Ronaldo revealed that, somewhat unexpectedly, he identified racially as white, generating a wider conversation about the complex role of race in Brazil.
96.
Ronaldo claimed that upon discovering that they were legally male, he offered them $600 to leave.
97.
Also in December, Ronaldo took a paternity test and was confirmed to be the father of a boy named Alexander, born in April 2005.
98.
Ronaldo was the co-owner of A1 Team Brazil, along with former F1 driver Emerson Fittipaldi.
99.
On 11 December 2014, Ronaldo became a minority owner of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League.
100.
Ronaldo appeared in The Simpsons season 18 episode "Marge Gamer" broadcast in April 2007.
101.
Ronaldo has appeared in various commercials, from Snickers chocolate bar to Pirelli tyres.
102.
In 2017 Ronaldo was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team in EA Sports' FIFA video game FIFA 18, receiving a 95 rating along with Brazilian compatriot Pele, Argentine playmaker Diego Maradona, former Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin and former French star Thierry Henry.
103.
Ronaldo appears as the cover athlete on the Icon edition of the game.
104.
Ronaldo has been sponsored by sportswear company Nike since the early part of his career.
105.
Ronaldo starred in the 1996 Nike commercial titled "Good vs Evil" in a gladiatorial game set in a Roman amphitheatre.