Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho Biography

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira is a former Brazilian professional footballer and now an ambassador for Spanish club FC Barcelona.

He was born on the 21 March 1980 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He mostly played as an attacking midfielder but was also deployed as a winger or a forward.

His brother was involved with Brazilian professional football club Grêmio which is based in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul.

Background

At a tender age of eight, Ronaldo's football skills began to get color and he was given the nickname "Ronaldinho" just because he was often the youngest player in youth club matches.

His first limelight moment came at the age of 13, when he scored all of the 23 goals in a 23–0 victory against a local team.

Debut

Ronaldinho has played international football at every age level and was identified as a rising star at the 1997 U-17 World Championship in Egypt. He scored two goals from penalty kicks.

In 1999, first he appeared in the South American Youth Championship and scored three goals helping the U20s to reach third place.

Then he appeared in that year's FIFA World Youth Championship held in Nigeria, scoring his first goal in Brazil's last group match. In the round of 16, he scored two goals in the first-half in a 4–0 win over Croatia.

Rise to Glory

Three days before the start of the 1999 Copa América, on 26th June he earned his first cap for Brazil in a 3–0 win over Latvia, and he also scored one goal during Brazil's victory over Copa América campaign.

In the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup he scored in every match except the final which included a hat-trick in an 8–2 semi-final vs Saudi Arabia.

Ronaldinho won both the Golden Ball award and the Golden Boot award for the best player in tournament and the tournament top-scorer respectively.

Ronaldinho participated in the Summer Olympics held at Sydney, Australia, with the U23 team in 2000. In the same year Ronaldinho did the major contribution in Brazil’s win in the Pre-Olympic Tournament, scoring nine goals in seven matches.

In the group stage match His first goal came against China PR in which Brazil won 4–0. On 21st June 2002, the quarter-final against England in the World Cup 2002 was held which was the most prominent in Ronaldinho's World Cup career.

In the 2003 Confederations Cup he went without any goal and Brazil were eliminated in the group stage itself.

On 24 March 2007, Ronaldinho scored twice in a 4–0 win over Chile for the 2008 Olympic medal.

Captaincy

Ronaldinho was the captain of Brazil national football team and guided his team to win its second ever Confederations Cup title in 2005.

He converted a penalty kick into a 3–2 semi-final win against host Germany and was named Man of the Match in a 4–1 victory over arch-rival Argentina in the final on 29th June. on 24 April 2013, he was called into the Brazil national football team as its captain for an international friendly with Chile.

Low Points

Since the 2005 Confederations Cup final he was scoreless for nearly two years until 2008 Olympic medal. However, Brazil were eliminated in the quarter-finals where Ronaldinho appeared in all four matches and scored only one goal.

For the 2006 World Cup finals, Ronaldinho was expected to deliver. However, Ronaldinho went scoreless and finishing with only one assist as he showed his worst collective performance in his entire international career. Brazil endured a disappointing campaign that culminated in a 1–0 loss to France in the quarter-finals itself.

Club Career

Ronaldinho's started with the Grêmio youth squad. He made his senior side debut in the 1998 Copa Libertadores. 1999 saw the entrance of the Ronaldinho having scored 23 goals in 48 matches.

He was severe on Internacional in the final of Rio Grande do Sul State Championship. Ronaldinho made Grêmio win the inaugural Copa Sul-Minas.

Ronaldinho signed a five-year contract in 2001 with French club Paris Saint-Germain which was a €5 million transfer.

On 4 August 2001, Ronaldinho made his league debut for the club, appearing as a substitute in a 1–1 draw with Auxerre. Ronaldinho was also very good in the 2001–02 Coupe de la Ligue.

Ronaldinho scored two second half goals in a Round of 16 matches against Guingamp. On 26 October 2002, he scored two of the 3 goals in PSG's 2 goal victory over rivals Marseille. He again scored in the return match which was PSG's 3–0 win. In the Coupe de France he scored both goals in the club's 2–0 win over Bordeaux in the semi-finals.

FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta had entered the running for Ronaldinho and outbid Manchester United for him joining them in a €30 million deal.

In a friendly match against Milan at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium situated in Washington, D.C., Ronaldinho made his first team debut, scoring one of the goals.

On 3rd September 2003, he scored his first goal in the La Liga against Sevilla. Ronaldinho scored 15 goals in La Liga during the 2003–04 season, helping the team ultimately finish second in the league.

On 20 December 2004 Ronaldinho was named FIFA World Player of the Year. Barcelona were eliminated from further competition by Chelsea in the first knockout round on 8 March 2005. Ronaldinho scored both goals in the 4–2 second leg.

Ronaldinho scored 2 goals as Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 3–0 in the first leg of El Clásico on 19th of November.

The season was the best in Ronaldinho's career as he played a huge part in Barcelona's first Champions League title in 14 years.

Ronaldinho completed the season with 26 goals out of which seven were from the Champions League. As a result, he was chosen for the UEFA Team of the Year for the third time in a row and was also named the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 2005–06.

Ronaldinho scored his 50th and 51st career league goal on 25 November 2006 against Villarreal, the second was an overhead bicycle kick. He scored once and assisted in three of Barcelona's 4–0 Club World Cup win over Mexico's Club América on 14th of December. He scored two goals against Juventus on 10 January 2010.

Ronaldinho joined Flamengo on 11 January 2011, Atlético Mineiro on 4 June 2012. On 5 September 2014, he signed on a two-year contract with Mexican club Querétaro. On 11 July 2015 Ronaldinho joined Fluminense.

Records

Ronaldinho scored three goals in the Confederations Cup 2005 and this record is currently tied with Mexican forward Cuauhtémoc Blanco as the tournament's overall all-time scorer with nine goals. 6 of Ronaldinho’s goal were from 1999.

Retirement

On 16 January 2018 Ronaldinho confirmed his retirement from football through his brother and agent.