Ronaldo

Ronaldo

Ronaldo is born in the poor suburbs of Rio de Janeiro under the name Luis Nazario de Lima. Driven by his childhood hero Zico, the youngster enters football early in his life. By his 12th birthday he is playing in an organized youth club called Tennis Club Valqueire. With Valqueire, he plays "futebol de salão" or small-sided football with a miniature ball. This is considered an important step in Ronaldo's development as playing with a smaller ball is said to rapidly increase skill. In the following few years, he takes part in various youth tournaments and begins attracting attention. Soon after, Cruzeiro di Belo Horizonte snatch up the youngster on a $50,000 transfer.
Young Luis Nazario gets his big break at the age of 17 when he is called up by Brazil's senior national team. He performs well and is selected for his country's World Cup squad. Because of his tender age, the young Ronaldo is kept as a substitute and watches on as his team wins the 1994 World Cup.
Ronaldo's international appearances help him get noticed by European club PSV Eindhoven. He moves to PSV and instantly becomes top scorer of the Dutch league. With his growing popularity in Europe, Ronaldo is quickly singed by Spanish giant FC Barcelona. At Barca, he gets global recognition by scoring numerous spectacular goals. Moving to Italian club Internazionale is the next step in his career. Rona's start in the Calcio is promising, but playing against rough Italian defenders gradually takes its toll.


The year 1998 marks a decline in Ronaldo's career. He leads his national team to a World Cup Final, but fails to deliver in the decisive match. His squad settles for silver as a wide range of speculations (from illness to black magic) are made about Ronaldo's indifferent display. By the end of 1998, Ronaldo is forced to leave the pitch after a knee injury which he picks up with his club. The injury haunts Ronaldo for a few years causing him to miss the entire 2000/2001 season.
As he recovers, Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid decide to sign him. This change helps the prolific striker to resume his regular scoring.
Rona also returns to the Brazilian national team, scoring two goals in the final and wining the World Cup at Korea and Japan in 2002. In Germany 2006, Ronaldo becomes the World Cup's leading scorer of all time after beating Gerhard Müller's record of 14 goals. Nevertheless, his country exists the tournament in the quarterfinals after losing to France 0-1.
As a footballer, practically everything has been said about the Brazilian soccer player, because of his worldwide fame. Regardless of all the talk, he is a powerful striker who can run through defenders. Before his injury, Rona was a player of great speed with the ability of carrying the ball over long distances. This has changed now as he has gained weight and lost his youthful pelt. He has become somewhat more predictable, but not in any means less dangerous. In one-on-one confrontations, he can beat any defender on Earth. Ronaldo plays with the typical Brazilian flair yet he also has the strenght to outmuscle and go around his marker.
Quick Facts
Name Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima
Starting Number #9
Born 22 September 1976 in Bento Ribeiro, Rio de Janeiro
Nationality Brazilian
Height 184 cm / 6 feet
Weight 89 kg / 197 pounds
Family Status Divorced from world female juggling champion Milene Domingues with a child Ronald
Foot Right
Teams Cruzeiro
PSV Eindhoven (Holland)
Barcelona (Spain)
Inter (Italy)
Real Madrid (Spain)
Nicknames Rona
Ronaldinho
Fenomeno
R9
Dadado
The Extraterrestrial
Skills Speed dribbling, finishing



Club History
1993-1993 Cruzeiro
1994-1996 PSV Eindhoven (NED)
1996-1997 FC Barcelona (ESP)
1997-2002 Internazionale (ITA)
Since 2002 Real Madrid (ESP)

Profile
Only occasionally can the bare facts and figures of a player’s career convey the sheer talent that they possess. Ronaldo Luiz Nazario da Silva is quite simply one of the greatest strikers in the history of world football, capable of leaving an entire team for dead with his darting runs and dribbling ability, voted FIFA World Player of the Year on three occasions and already a double FIFA World Cup™ winner. These honours are merely the tip of the iceberg in the record-breaking career of the man they call ‘The Phenomenon’.

Born in the working-class neighbourhood of Bento Ribeiro, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Ronaldo’s precocious talents were recognised at an extremely young age, and it did not take long before he exploded on to the professional scene. At the age of 15 Ronaldo was turning out for Rio club Sao Cristovao, before he was snapped up by Belo Horizonte side Cruzeiro. The young striker was quick to make a name for himself, producing a string of dazzling displays in the Campeonato Brasileiro which saw him receive his first national team call up at only 17 years’ of age. From that moment on, his international career took off.

Having been a member of the FIFA World Cup-winning Brazil squad in 1994, the prodigiously talented teenager joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in the same year. In only two years at the club, he scored 54 goals in a mere 57 games – an incredible average of just under a goal every game.

That goal ratio soon attracted Barcelona’s interest, and the Catalan club wasted no time in securing their new star’s signature. At Barcelona, Ronaldo reached new heights, winning the FIFA World Player of the Year awards in 1996 and 1997 along the way. In 1998, and now with Inter Milan, Ronaldo began the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France as a fully-established first-team player for his country. Under the guidance of coach Mario Jorge ‘Lobo’ Zagallo, the Brazilians blazed their way through to the final only to lose 3-0 to their French hosts. It was a result that shook the whole of Brazil to its foundations, and for Ronaldo it signalled the beginning of the most turbulent chapter of his footballing career. On the morning of the final, the mercurial striker suffered a sudden convulsive fit, which almost ruled him out of the match itself. Despite Ronaldo battling on to play, many members of the squad later admitted that the incident destabilised the team at a critical moment.

Injury blow
The worst was yet to come for the Brazilian striker. Having seen FIFA World Cup victory slip from his grasp, Ronaldo then underwent the most difficult period of his career. On 21 November 1999, during a Serie A match against Lecce, Ronaldo felt his knee buckle and was forced to limp off the pitch. Medical exams after the match confirmed that the striker had ruptured a tendon in his right knee and would require surgery. Only four months after his operation he returned to action against Lazio on 12 April 2000 in the first leg of the Coppa Italia Final.

However, disaster struck just six minutes into the game when an unmarked Ronaldo twisted his recently-repaired knee. The image of the forlorn Brazilian striker, crumpled in a heap and howling in agony, is one that still shocks to this day.

Again the doctors confirmed Ronaldo’s worst fears, stating that he had torn those same knee ligaments. Opinion was divided as to the extent of the injury, but the future looked bleak. Indeed, many specialists thought that the footballing genius would never fully recover and that his career was as good as over. But, on 20 September 2001, 17 months and eight days after the original injury, Ronaldo was back playing against Romanian club Brasov in a UEFA Cup match in Trieste. Despite the length of his recovery period, it soon became clear that the brilliant Brazilian had lost none of his goalscoring prowess.

In 2002, he moved back to Spain with Real Madrid and the then Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari gambled on the forward’s return to form and fitness by calling him up to Brazil’s FIFA World Cup squad. No one could have predicted a better outcome. Not only had Brazil won their fifth FIFA World Cup, but the ‘Phenomenon’ was the tournament’s top scorer, netting eight goals in only seven games. Only Pele has netted as many goals for Brazil in the competition’s history – both players having scored 12 times. In 2006 Ronaldo will be looking to surpass that figure as well as overhaul Gerd Muller’s long-standing 14-goal record as top scorer in the history of the FIFA World Cup. Opposition defences beware.

Previous WC Final Matches
30 June 2002 Germany : Brazil 0:2 (0:0)
FIFA World Cup Final 2002 Competition
26 June 2002 Brazil : Turkey 1:0 (0:0)
FIFA World Cup Final 2002 Competition
21 June 2002 England : Brazil 1:2 (1:1)
FIFA World Cup Final 2002 Competition
17 June 2002 Brazil : Belgium 2:0 (0:0)
FIFA World Cup Final 2002 Competition
27 June 1998 Brazil : Chile 4:1 (3:0)
FIFA World Cup 1998 Final Competition
13 June 2002 Costa Rica : Brazil 2:5 (1:3)
FIFA World Cup Final 2002 Competition
23 June 1998 Brazil : Norway 1:2 (0:0)
FIFA World Cup 1998 Final Competition
8 June 2002 Brazil : China PR 4:0 (3:0)
FIFA World Cup Final 2002 Competition
16 June 1998 Brazil : Morocco 3:0 (2:0)
FIFA World Cup 1998 Final Competition
3 June 2002 Brazil : Turkey 2:1 (0:1)
FIFA World Cup Final 2002 Competition
10 June 1998 Brazil : Scotland 2:1 (1:1)
FIFA World Cup 1998 Final Competition
12 July 1998 Brazil : France 0:3 (0:2)
FIFA World Cup 1998 Final Competition
7 July 1998 Brazil : Netherlands 1:1 a.e.t (1:1, 0:0) 4:2 PSO
FIFA World Cup 1998 Final Competition
3 July 1998 Brazil : Denmark 3:2 (2:1)
FIFA World Cup 1998 Final Competition


Previous WC Preliminaries Matches
12 October 2005 Brazil : Venezuela 3:0 (1:0)
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone
4 September 2005 Brazil : Chile 5:0 (4:0)
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone
30 March 2005 Uruguay : Brazil 1:1 (0:0)
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone
27 March 2005 Brazil : Peru 1:0 (0:0)
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone
31 March 2004 Paraguay : Brazil 0:0
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone
17 November 2004 Ecuador : Brazil 1:0 (0:0)
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone
13 October 2004 Brazil : Colombia 0:0
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone
9 October 2004 Venezuela : Brazil 2:5 (0:2)
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone
5 September 2004 Brazil : Bolivia 3:1 (3:0)
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone
6 June 2004 Chile : Brazil 1:1 (0:1)
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone
2 June 2004 Brazil : Argentina 3:1 (1:0)
FIFA WC 2006 Prel. Comp. South American Zone