Ronaldinho

About Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho arrived to FC Barcelona as a good player, but not a star. He formed a good relationship with Barca’s head coach Frank Rijkaard, and he found a great teammate inside the pitch in Samuel Eto´o. After that, everything is history.

He has always been with his family since his time at Gremio and had moved them to Paris when he played for Saint-Germain. His brother is his agent and his sister is his press agent.

Now they are backing him up. He is not at his best at the moment - the press labelled him last year as the “Barça fiasco”, and he is thinking what to do about his future.

Background

Ronaldinho was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil and named Ronaldo de Assís Moreira. His father was a shipyard worker and his mother was a saleswoman, and then a nurse. Ronaldinho´s father died when he was only 9 years old.

Ronaldinho is pictured on the left

Since his childhood, Dinho found in football ball his best friend. Roberto, his brother was a good football player who played in Gremio until he suffered a lot of injuries. Torino was interested in him. It was Roberto Dinho´s inspiration to take the football as a pro career.

Club Football

Gremio

Before Ronaldinho joined Gremio´s youth teams, in 1998 he arrived to the first team. Since the beginning he showed a great ball control and vertiginous dribbling with the ball. But his coach was not sure about him. His made his debut in Copa Libertadores. Fans pressured coach to include Dinho in the Gremio initial eleven. Good games helped him to reach the Brazilian National Team in 1999.

Ronaldinho was a big star for the Gremio team

Year 2000 found Ronaldinho as the big star of the team, and knowing that maybe it could be the last year in Brazil. European clubs were scouting for him and his move to Europe was almost inevitable.

Paris Saint-Germain

In the middle of 2001 Paris Saint-Germain announced Ronaldinho was the club new star player. The French team had won the fight for him over Arsenal. In his first year in Paris, Dinho was accused by his coach, Luis Fernandez, of not cooperating much with the team´s progress. He said Ronaldinho went out too much at night. Fans accused Ronaldinho of performing excellently against big teams, but against the smaller ones, they said he didn’t do well. The relationship between the Brazilian player and the French club wasn´t at its best moment.

The following year, even after a great appearance in the FIFA World Cup in Japan and Korea in 2002, and because PSG failed to qualify to European competitions, he forced to transfer. Barcelona and Manchester United both bid on his services, but the Catalans offered more money, and Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto (his agent) didn’t doubt it: he moved from Paris to Barcelona.

FC Barcelona

Joining Barca in 2003

In 2003 Ronaldinho signed his contract with Barcelona. President Laporta had promised David Beckham, but the English player signed for Real Madrid, so, with Nike´s help, the Catalans bought the new Brazilian star.

During his first season, Ronaldinho suffered an serious injury and he was forced to miss out on many games. When Dinho was back he let his magic show and with his team, he reached the second position in the table. Valencia was the champion.

Next season found Ronaldinho, Eto´o, Puyol and Xavi joining to create a great team. They swept over other teams and won La Liga. On the other hand, they were knocked out from the Champions League by Chelsea after the group stage. That year Dinho won the FIFA World Player of the Year over Henry and Shevchenko.

The new dream team wanted revenge in 2005-2006. They wanted to win the Champions League. And they did. Ronaldinho was the key player and Barcelona got their second Champions League. Barcelona beat Arsenal in Paris 2 to 1. Before that, Barcelona had won La Liga again, with two of Ronaldinho´s historic goals in the Bernabéu Stadium against Real Madrid. Even the Merengues stood up and gave him a well deserved standing ovation.

This was the Ronaldinho´s year: he won the FIFA World Player of the year again, and also the FIFA Pro World Player of the Year, he was also named in the FIFA Pro team of the year, then he was named as both the European Footballer of the Year and the best striker in the 2004-05 Champions League, he became the third Brazilian to win the Ballon d'Or, and he was chosen for the UEFA team of 2005.

Winner of FIFA Pro World Player of the Year

Season 2006-2007 wasn´t a good one for Ronaldinho and Barcelona. Real Madrid won La Liga, and Barça, with Ronaldinho suffering physical problems, couldn´t win the Champions League again. They also lost the final of the FIFA CWC against Inter de Porto Alegre in Japan. The press labelled Ronaldinho guilty of the entire season’s fiasco.

And this season he is not even a starting eleven player. He wants to move out from Barcelona, and the club wants to sell him.

International Football

Brazil

Ronaldinho is one of the few players that played for Brazil at every football level: under 15, under 17, under 20, under 23, and senior level.

Ronaldinho was part of the Brazilian team that won the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship, in Egypt. Also he was part of the under 17 national team that played in 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria. His debut for the senior national team against Latvia was in June of 1999. Brazil won 3 to 0.

Then Dinho participated in the 1999 Copa América in Paraguay. He scored a goal against Venezuela, and Brazil won the cup. That year Ronaldinho also participated in the Confederation Cup. He was the best player and the top scorer of the tournament, but Brazil lost the final against Mexico 4 to 3.

In the 2002 World Cup Dinho was part of “the three Rs” with Rivaldo and Ronaldo. They brought Brazil to the top of the world by winning the tournament. He scored two goals, and the press said he was one of the best players of the tournament. Ronaldinho, with his performances in Japan and Korea, became a star.

In the 2005 Confederations Cup, Ronaldinho was the captain of Brazil, and was named the man of the match of the final against Argentina, that Brazil won 4 to 1.

World Cup 2006 was one of the worst moments for Ronaldinho. Brazil left the competition in quarterfinals against France, and fans and press criticized them, especially Ronaldinho and Ronaldo. People destroyed a tall statue of Ronaldinho that stood in the Brazilian city of Chapecó.

Dunga was named coach of Brazil national team, and Ronaldinho didn’t play the last Copa America in Venezuela. But now Dunga has called him to the last World Cup qualifying games.

International Goals

Awards and Honors

Gremio

• Rio Grande do Sul State Championship: 1999
• Rio Grande do Sul State Cup: 1999

Paris Saint-Germain

• Intertoto Cup: 2001

Barcelona

• Spanish Liga: 2005, 2006
• Supercopa de España: 2005, 2006
• UEFA Champions League: 2006
• FIFA Club World Cup 2006: Runners-up

Brazil

• FIFA U-17 World Cup: 1997
• Copa America: 1999
• FIFA World Cup: 2002
• Confederations Cup: 2005

Personal Awards

• Pelé named Ronaldinho in his 125 Top Living Footballers in March 2004.
• FIFA World Player of the Year: 2004, 2005
• World Soccer Player of the Year: 2004, 2005
• European Footballer of the Year: 2005
• FIFPro World Player of the Year 2005, 2006
• FIFPro World XI: 2005, 2006, 2007
• UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2005-06
• UEFA Club Best Forward: 2004-05
• UEFA Team of the Year: 2004, 2005, 2006
• Best foreign player in La Liga: 2004, 2006
• EFE Trophy: Best Ibero-American Player in La Liga: 2004
• FIFA World Cup 2002 All-Star team: 2002
• FIFA Club World Cup Bronze Ball Award: 2006
• FIFA Confederations Cup Top Scorer: 1999
• FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Ball: 1999
• Rio Grande do Sul State Championship Top Scorer: 1999

Career Statistics

Personal Info

Ronaldinho lives in Barcelona, Spain and he likes the city a lot. But whenever he has free time he travels to Brazil. Everyone, especially his coaches, knows that Ronaldinho likes to party. He always goes dancing and paparazzi follow him everywhere. He is the press´ new target and being an idol is costing him too much. He always organizes parties at his home in Barcelona and Porto Alegre. FC Barcelona doesn’t like that, and he’s been handed a behaviour code book in the hope that he’s behave more professionally.

Wife / Girlfriend

During the last FIFA World Cup in 2006 Ronaldinho was seen hanging out with the French model Alexandra Paressant, but this was never confirmed by him.

Ronaldinho doesn’t have an official girlfriend, and he was never married, but he has a son. Ronaldinho's son, named João was born on February 25, 2005. João's mother is Janaína Nattielle Viana Mendes, is a former dancer on a Brazilian television show.

This year João moved to Barcelona and is living with his father and his grandmother.

Interesting Facts About Ronaldinho

• Idols: His Brother Roberto. Also Valdo, Rivaldo, Rivelino, Zico, Diego Armando Maradona, Romario and Ronaldo.
• Idol from another Sport: Michael Jordan.
• Hobbies: His love is Football, his other favourite hobbies include listening to music, reading, singing, dancing and playing percussion instruments. He has a Karaoke machine in his house.
• Television Programme: Likes to play Pro Evolution Soccer on the PS2, his favourite video game.
• Favourite food: Churrasco (Brazilian Barbeque)
• Dessert: Candy, like Chocolate.
• Person who he'd most like to meet: Michael Jordan.
• Type of Music: Samba and pagode. He also listens to music in English to learn some words
• Movie he'd like to be in: A Comedy Movie so he could make people laugh. He likes to tell lots of jokes.
• People he admires: His family, his fans.
• Religion: Catholic (doesn’t practice).
• Favourite Clothes: Jeans and Shirt.
• Phrase: Vencer, sempre vencer. "Keep on winning."
• City: Barcelona. Quite a Brazilian-type city and he likes it a lot. He feels it's the European equivalent to Brazil.
• Sport he follows (besides football): Basketball.

Sponsors

Ronaldino is one of the most highly-paid footballers in the world and makes millions from his corporate sponsors.

• Nike
• Lloret del Mar
• Danone
• Pepsi
• EA Sports
• Lenovo
• Kibon

Important Links

• http://www.ronaldinhogaucho.com/
• http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/futbol/temporada_07-08/plantilla/jugadors/ronaldinho.html

References

• http://ronaldinho-uk.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
• http://www.1ronaldinho.com/
• http://ronnie100.skyrock.com/
• http://www.infobae.com