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Ronaldinho
*** Shopping-Tip: Ronaldinho
{{otherpeople|Ronaldo}}
{{Football player infobox
| playername= Ronaldinho
| image =
Image:Ronaldinho.jpg 200px
| fullname = Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
| nickname = RonaldinhoRonaldinho Gaúcho
| dateofbirth =
21 March,
1980
| cityofbirth = Porto Alegre
| countryofbirth = Brazil
| height = 181cm
| currentclub = FC Barcelona
| position = Forward
| youthyears =
| youthclubs = Grêmio
| years = 1998–20012001–20032003-
| clubs = Grêmio
Paris SG
FC Barcelona
| caps(goals) = 110 (37)
55 (17)
68 (24)
| nationalyears = 1999 – present
| nationalteam = Brazil
| nationalcaps(goals) = 60 (27)
| pcupdate = 2006
| ntupdate = 2006
}}
'''Ronaldo de Assis Moreira''' (born
March 21,
1980 in
Porto Alegre,
Brazil) is a
Football (soccer) footballer more commonly known as '''Ronaldinho Gaúcho''' due to his citizenship in the
Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil. His name '''Ronaldinho''', Portuguese for "little Ronaldo", was originally devised as a means of distinguishing between himself, and fellow Brazilian footballer
Ronaldo LuÃs Nazário de Lima Ronaldo. Among his many achievements and accolades, Ronaldinho has been awarded the
FIFA World Player of the Year award twice as well as both the
European Footballer of the Year award and the
FIFPro#World_Player_of_the_Year FIFPro World Player of the Year award once. He is widely regarded as the best player in the world, although he himself considers such talk ridiculous, having told ''FourFourTwo'' magazine, "I don't even feel I'm the best at
Barça."
[{{cite news|title=The Master|url=http://www.fourfourtwo.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Interviews/0,,11442~758106,00.html| publisher=FourFourTwo|first=Andy|last=Mitten|date=January 2006|pages=72-74}}]
History
Childhood
In his childhood, Ronaldinho's skill in football began to blossom due to his particular interest in
futsal and beach football, which later developed into a fondness for more standardised football. His first brush with the media came after a 23 goal flurry against a local team, at just 13 years of age.
His reputation as a footballer was upheld during most of his childhood, particularly due to the fact he was a prolific goal-scorer in the
Egypt Football U-17 World Championship under-17 world championship, and to his stylish play.
Professional career
=Brazil
=
He was introduced into the
Brazil national football team Brazilian national team in 1999. He debuted for the national team on
June 26,
1999 in football (soccer) 1999, and in his first appearance he scored the winning goal against {{nft|Venezuela}} which helped the team win the
Copa América 1999 Copa América.
Ronaldinho helped Brazil in their successful
2002 in football (soccer) 2002 campaign to win the
Football World Cup 2002 World Cup. One of the highlights of the tournament was an outrageous 35-metre free kick he scored against {{nft|England}} in the quarter-finals in
Shizuoka, although he was sent off soon after for a foul on
Danny Mills. Following the sending-off, he was suspended for the semi-finals, but returned to Brazil's starting line-up for the 2-0 final victory over {{nft|Germany}} for the trophy.
On
June 29,
2005 in football (soccer) 2005, he played a pivotal role as the
Captain (football) captain of the Brazilian squad which won its second FIFA
Confederations Cup 2005 Confederations Cup title, where he was named Man of the Match in a 4–1 victory over {{nft|Argentina}} in the final.
Pelé named Ronaldinho in his
FIFA 100 125 Top Living Footballers in March 2004.
=Grêmio years
=
His career began, playing at the youth team of
Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense Grêmio, in the era of head coach
Luiz Felipe Scolari, who would later become Brazilian national team coach. His first senior appearance came in the 1998
Libertadores Cup[Radnedge, Keir, "The priceless prince of Barcelona", ''World Soccer'', January 2005, pp. 8-9], and his penchant for goalscoring was quickly displayed; generating speculation and interest around his career due to his phenomenal ball control and ability to score. This was followed by his introduction into the Brazilian national team in 1999.
Towards the end of his career at Grêmio, in 2001, many clubs from all over the world, particularly
FA Premier League Premiership teams in
England, were eager to sign him as an attempt to attain a "big name" player, as well as a well performing player. Despite several generous bids from Premiership teams, including a
Pound sterling £50 million bid from
Leeds United F.C. Leeds{{citation needed}}, and several requests from Grêmio, Ronaldinho signed a five-year contract for
Paris Saint-Germain, and started his contract at the beginning of the following season.
=Paris Saint-Germain years
=
In 2001 Ronaldinho left Grêmio to play European football. Despite bids from much larger clubs{{citation needed}}, he opted to play for
Paris Saint-Germain PSG. During his time at PSG, the manager,
Luis Fernandez, claimed that Ronaldinho was too focused on the
Parisian nightlife rather than on his football, and complained that his holidays in Brazil would always drag on and never end at the scheduled times
.
After the
Football World Cup 2002 World Cup, having shown his worth on the international scene, there was no shortage on the interest from bigger clubs, and in 2003, Ronaldinho made it known he wanted to leave PSG after they failed to qualify for any European competitions. That set off a bidding war among the top clubs for his services
.
=Barcelona years
=
On
July 19,
FC Barcelona snapped him up for
£18 million
. Originally Barcelona
chairman Joan Laporta had promised to bring
David Beckham to the club, but following his transfer to Real Madrid, Barcelona went into the run for Ronaldinho and beat
Manchester United F.C. Manchester United to his signature. It was thought that a failure between the English and French club over a fee was the reason behind the deal falling through for Manchester United. Ronaldinho is said to have signed with Barcelona instead of Manchester United because of his friendship with former
Nike executive in Brazil, and then Barcelona vice-president in charge of sports,
Sandro Rosell[Lowe, Sid, "Friends and enemies", ''World Soccer'', August 2005, pp. 18-21]. Ronaldinho's signing for Barcelona was following in the footsteps of a number of illustrious fellow countrymen who had enjoyed successful careers with the club, including
Evaristo,
Romario,
Ronaldo LuÃs Nazário de Lima Ronaldo and
Rivaldo.
Ronaldinho justified the purchase, leading Barcelona to a second-place finish in
La Liga during the 2003/04 season. Together with
Samuel Eto'o,
Deco,
Lionel Messi,
Ludovic Giuly and
Henrik Larsson, he comprises part of an awesome strike force which reaped the 2004/05
La Liga title for
FC Barcelona. On
December 20,
2004 in football (soccer) 2004, Ronaldinho was named
FIFA World Player of the Year ahead of
Arsenal F.C. Arsenal's
Thierry Henry and
AC Milan's
Andriy Shevchenko, with Barcelona having rejected a £60 million bid for him by
Chelsea F.C. Chelsea, according to Sandro Rosell
.
In June 2005, Rosell resigned from the Barcelona administration following a bust-up with Joan Laporta, and it was feared that it would spell the eventual exit of Ronaldinho as well. His contract running to 2008, Ronaldinho was offered a contract until 2014, netting him £85 million
, which he rejected until he on
September 1, 2005 signed a two-year extension of his original contract until 2010
[FC Barcelona, [http://www.fcbarcelona.com/eng/noticias/noticias/n05090106.shtml Total satisfaction], September 1, 2005], with a clause of release, should a club pay Barcelona £85 million for him.
On
November 19, 2005, he scored two amazing goals to help FC Barcelona to a 3–0 win over arch-rivals
Real Madrid at the
Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. There he stole the ball from the center and scored with remarkable breaks, luring in the process most of Madrid players. After he scored his second goal of the night, his team's third, a large part of the Madrid faithfuls gave him a standing ovation, a rare feat which occurred last when
Diego Maradona was in
Barcelona.
In 2005 Ronaldinho was named as both the
European Footballer of the Year and the best striker in the
UEFA Champions League tournament of 2004/05. Ronaldinho is the third Brazilian to win the European Footballer of the Year Award. On
December 19, 2005, he was again named
FIFA World Player of the Year with 956 points, more than three times the 306 points of Chelsea's
Frank Lampard and 190 points of Barça teammate Samuel Eto'o. He was chosen for the
UEFA team of 2005 for the third time running in January
2006 in football (soccer) 2006. He received more votes than any other player in that team. Over 1.5 million people participated in that vote.
Ronaldinho, on
March 7, 2006 in the 2nd leg of the Champions League at
Camp Nou, scored a spectacular goal against Chelsea. He received the ball from Eto'o outside the box, dribbled past three defenders and edged past a fourth player, and hit the ball hard and low past goalkeeper
Petr Cech. The next day, in a press conference, Ronaldinho expressed his happiness with Barcelona and bashed speculations for a possible transfer to Chelsea: "I'm very happy with Barça. I can't imagine being happier anywhere else but with Barça. There isn't enough money to buy my happiness. I see myself being here the rest of my life and I hope to keep on bringing joy to the Barça fans"
. Ronaldinho is considered the world's most coveted player in 2006, and a possible future transfer fee for him would probably top 50 million euros.
Business
In December 2005, he and
Mauricio de Sousa, a famous Brazilian
comic book author, announced the creation of a comic character based upon Ronaldinho, his brother and his mother. Ronaldinho has a son named João, who was born in February 2005.
Honours
'''Team'''
*
La Liga Spanish La Liga: 2004-05 with Barcelona
*
Spanish Super Cup: 2005-06 with Barcelona
'''International'''
*Under-17 World Cup 1996-97
*
Copa America: 1998-99 2004-05
*
FIFA World Cup: 2002
*
Confederations Cup: 2004-05
'''Individual'''
{{start box}}
{{succession box|title=
FIFA World Player of the Year|before=
Zinedine Zidane|after=current holder|years=2004, 2005}}
{{succession box|title=
FIFPro FIFPro World Player of the Year|before=inaugural |after=current holder|years=2005}}
{{succession box|title=
European Footballer of the Year|before=
Andriy Shevchenko |after=current holder|years=2005}}
{{end box}}
Notes
External links
-
FC Barcelona profile
-
FootballDatabase career stats
-
"Crossbar" Nike Advertisement
{{Persondata
|NAME=Gaucho, Ronaldinho
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=de Assis Moreira, Ronaldo (birth name);
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=Professional football player
|DATE OF BIRTH=
March 21,
1980
|PLACE OF BIRTH=
Porto Alegre,
Brazil
|DATE OF DEATH=
|PLACE OF DEATH=
}}
Category:1980 births
Category:Living people
Category:Brazilian footballers
Category:Afro-Brazilians
Category:Olympic competitors for Brazil
Category:Football (soccer) strikers
Category:FIFA World Players of the Year
Category:European Footballers of the Year
Category:FIFA 100
Category:FC Barcelona footballers
Category:Free kick specialists
Category:FIFA World Cup 2002 players
Category:Paris Saint-Germain players
Category:La Liga footballers
ar:رونالدينو
bg:Роналдиньо
ca:Ronaldinho
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fa:رونالدینیو
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no:Ronaldinho
nn:Ronaldinho
pl:Ronaldinho Gaucho
pt:Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
ru:Рональдиньо
sl:Ronaldinho
sr:Роналдињо
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vi:Ronaldinho
tr:Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
zh:罗纳尔迪尼奥
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