Ronaldo (Brazilian Soccer hero) the biography

Ronaldo (The Brazilian Soccer hero biography)

Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima (born September 22, 1976 Rio de Janeiro), simply known as Ronaldo, is a Brazilian professional footballer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players to have played the game. He plays as a striker for Brazil and the Italian Serie A club AC Milan. He has been nicknamed The Phenomenon. He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest footballers.

Ronaldo enjoyed success at the international level, winning the 1994 and 2002 FIFA World Cups with Brazil. Ronaldo won three FIFA World Player of the Year awards (1996, 1997, 2002). He and former Real Madrid teammate Zinedine Zidane are the only players to have won the award three times.

Personal life
Ronaldo was born in Bento Ribeiro, a poor neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Like many of his friends, he began to play football in the streets of his neighborhood.

In April 1999, Ronaldo married Milene Domingues. The marriage lasted four years. The couple had a son, Ronald (born 2000). In 2005, Ronaldo got engaged to Brazilian model and MTV VJ Daniela Cicarelli; their relationship lasted 3 months after their engagement. He ended his relationship with Brazilian supermodel Raica Oliveira in December of 2006.

In 2005, Ronaldo became co-owner of A1 Team Brazil, alongside Brazilian motorsports legend Emerson Fittipaldi. The team participates in the newly launched A1 Grand Prix series, with Nelson Piquet, Jr., Tony Kanaan and João Paulo Oliveira as drivers.

Football career
Ronaldo's football abilities were recognised when he was 14. He was recommended to the Brazil youth team by World Cup winner Jairzinho, who arranged for his own former club, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, to sign him when he was old enough for a professional contract.

Ronaldo scored 12 goals in 14 games in the Brazilian National Championship, and in the Minas Gerais State Championship he scored all three goals in Cruzeiro's 3-1 victory against arch rival Atlético Mineiro. After being scouted by Piet de Visser, he was soon transferred for US$6 million to PSV Eindhoven, where he scored 42 goals in 46 league games and reached a total of 55 goals in 57 official appearances. Later he attracted the attention of FC Barcelona. He played for Barça in the 96-97 season, scoring 34 goals in 37 appearances (47 in 49, including appearances in the Copa del Rey and European Cup Winners Cup), and then transferred to Inter Milan the following year. As of 2006, Ronaldo is the last player to score more than 30 goals in 1 season in the Spanish La Liga.

A year after the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he severely injured his right knee and was out of the game for several months. During his first comeback in 2000, he played only seven minutes in a league game against Lazio before injuring his knee for a second time.

After two operations and 20 months of rehabilitation, Ronaldo came back for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, helping Brazil win a fifth World Cup title. Later in 2002 he won the World Player of the Year award for a third time, and transferred from Inter to Real Madrid for €39,000,000, after frequent disputes with Inter coach Héctor Cúper. His transfer to Madrid was the subject of a media frenzy not just laced with the usual hype because of his reputation, but more so because he was now the third Galactico signed in as many years by the Spanish giants as part of their policy of signing the world's biggest superstar football players in order to maintain levels of success whilst broadening their reaches of fame.

Ronaldo was such a well known signing that sales of his shirt on the day of his signing alone broke all records the world over. Proof of his fame came with the fact that even though Ronaldo was sidelined through injury until October 2002, fans continued to chant his name. Ronaldo scored twice in his debut for Real Madrid. That same reception was observed on the night of the final game of the season against Athletic Bilbao, where Ronaldo scored again to seal his first season with 23 league goals, not including the goals in the UEFA Champions League that included a hat-trick away at Manchester United, and the La Liga Championship title for 2003, which Ronaldo had previously failed to win whilst at FC Barcelona.

On 18 January 2007 it was reported Ronaldo agreed terms with A.C. Milan for a transfer of about $7.8 million. Ronaldo was forced to pay for the remaining period on his contract which tied him to Real Madrid, only because the latter did not accept to release him, while AC Milan were not ready to pay such a sum. In January Ronaldo flew from Madrid to Milan to watch A.C. Milan in a cup tie against AS Roma. Statements on the clubs website said Ronaldo was in Milan for a medical, and that a meeting had been arranged for Monday with Real Madrid officials to discuss and finalize his transfer to Milan. Ronaldo successfully completed his medical tests at the Milanello training complex under supervision of club doctors, and the transfer completed on 30 January and got the jersey number 99. He made his debut as a substitute for Milan on the 11th February 2007, during the 2-1 victory over Livorno. The next game at Siena on 17th February 2007, Ronaldo scored twice in his first start for Milan as they won an exciting game 4-3.

After his move to A.C. Milan, Ronaldo joined the list of the few players to have played for both Inter Milan and A.C. Milan in the Milan derby and is the only player to have scored for both sides in the derby game (for Inter in the 98/99 season and for Milan in the 06/07 season). Ronaldo is also one of the few players to have starred for Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, which also boasts a heated rivalry.

Despite tremendous success over the past decade, Ronaldo has yet to win the UEFA Champions League in his club career. Some consider him not winning the Champions League as the only thing Ronaldo has yet to achieve where his famous compatriots in Rivaldo and Ronaldinho have already done so for AC Milan and FC Barcelona respectively.

International career
Ronaldo made a international debut for Brazil in 1994, in a friendly match in Recife against Argentina. He went to the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA as a 17 year old but did not play. He was known then as Ronaldinho, since Ronaldo Guiaro, his older team mate on the 1996 Olympic Games, was called Ronaldo. Another Brazilian player, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, who is widely known as Ronaldinho, was then called Ronaldinho Gaúcho'

Voted the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997, he scored four goals and made 3 assists during the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The night before the final, he suffered a fit. He was initially removed from the starting lineup 72 minutes before the match but requested to play and was later reinstated by coach Mario Zagallo. Ronaldo did not perform well and he was injured in a collision with French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. Brazil lost the final to hosts France 3-0.Adrian Williams, professor of clinical neurology at Birmingham University, said Ronaldo should not have played, saying he would have been feeling the effects of the seizure.

Ronaldo won the Golden Shoe as the top scorer in the 2002 FIFA World Cup with eight goals. He scored against every team he came up against except England in the quarter finals and scored two in the final against Germany, helping Brazil win their fifth World Cup title. He also equaled Pelé's Brazilian record of 12 World Cup goals, adding to four he scored in the 1998 tournament.

On June 2, 2004, Ronaldo scored an unusual hat-trick for Brazil against arch-rivals Argentina in a CONMEBOL qualifier for the 2006 World Cup, scoring all three of Brazil's goals from the penalty spot.

Although Brazil won the first two group games against Croatia and Australia, respectively, Ronaldo was repeatedly jeered for being, in the opinion of some, overweight and slow (Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva questioned the national coach "Ronaldo is fat or isn't he?"). Nonetheless, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira kept him in the start in face of calls to have Ronaldo replaced. With his two goals against Japan in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he became the 20th player ever to score in three different FIFA World Cups. Ronaldo scored in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. On June 27, 2006, he broke the all-time World Cup Finals scoring record of 14, held by Gerd Müller after scoring his 15th World Cup goal against Ghana in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Round of 16. Ronaldo became only the second player ever (Jürgen Klinsmann being the other) to score at least three goals in each of three World Cups. However, Brazil was eliminated by France 1-0 in the quarter finals. During the game, he was booked for a handball when he and his teammates tried to deflect Zinedine Zidane's free kick. Though Ronaldo was criticized for his performance due to level of fitness and a few extra pounds, much of the blame went towards teammate Ronaldinho, who was partying after Brazil's defeat.

As of July 1, 2006, he had scored 62 goals in 97 international matches.

Following the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo had surgery on July 16, 2006, to remove calcifications from his left tibia.

Philanthropy
Ronaldo became a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador in 2000.

Ronaldo also supported numerous Israeli and Palestinian children's charities and conducted a tour of Israel and the West Bank.

Career stats
All-Time Club Performance
-----------------------App --Goals
Cruzeiro Total --------13 -----12
PSV Eindhoven Total -53 -----51
FC Barcelona Total -- 44 -----39
Inter Milan Total------ 99 -----59
Real Madrid Total ----166----- 98
Milan Total ------------12------- 7 Upto 5th may 2007

Honors and awards
Olympic Games
Bronze 1996 Atlanta Team Competition
FIFA World Player of the Year: 1996 , 1997, 2002
World Soccer Player of the Year: 1996, 1997, 2002
European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or): 1997, 2002
Onze d'Or: 1997, 2002
UEFA Most Valuable Player 98
European Golden Boot: 1997
Copa América 1999: Top Scorer
Spanish League Top Scorer: 1996-1997, 2003-2004
Dutch League Top Scorer: 94-1995
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality: 2002
GoldenFoot Award: 2006
FIFA World Cup
All-Time World Cup Goalscorer - 15 Goals in 19 games in 3 World Cups
2006 Bronze Boot - Third highest scorer (tied) - 3 goals
2002 Golden Boot - Top scorer - 8 goals
2002 Silver Ball - Second best player
2002 Winner
1998 Golden Ball - Best player
1998 Silver Boot - Second highest scorer 4 goals
1998 Runner-up
1994 Winner
Brazilian Cup: Cruzeiro 1993
Dutch Cup: PSV Eindhoven 1996
Cup Winners' Cup: FC Barcelona 1997
Confederations Cup: 1997
Copa América: 1997, 1999
UEFA Cup: Internazionale 1998
Intercontinental Cup: Real Madrid 2002
European Super Cup: Real Madrid 2002
La Liga - Primera División champions: Real Madrid 2002/2003
Spanish Super Cup: FC Barcelona 1996, Real Madrid 2003

Ronaldo, Ronaldoe, Ronnaldo, Ronaldoe, Rawnaldo, Ronald, Ronaldo, rhonaldu,
Written in May 2007
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