"Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer) Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima (; born 18 September 1976), commonly known as Ronaldo, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. Popularly dubbed ""O Fenômeno"" (""The Phenomenon""), he is widely considered to be one of the greatest football players of all time. In his prime, he was known for his dribbling at speed, feints, and clinical finishing. At his best in the 1990s, Ronaldo starred at club level for Cruzeiro, PSV, Barcelona, and Inter Milan. His moves to Spain and Italy made him only the second player, after Diego Maradona, to break the"
"world transfer record twice, all before his 21st birthday. At age 23, he had scored over 200 goals for club and country. After almost three years of inactivity due to serious knee injuries and recuperation, Ronaldo joined Real Madrid in 2002, which was followed by spells at A.C. Milan and Corinthians. Ronaldo won the FIFA World Player of the Year three times, in 1996, 1997 and 2002, and the Ballon d'Or twice, in 1997 and 2002, as well as the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 1998. He was La Liga Best Foreign Player in 1997, when he also"
"During his spell at PSV, Ronaldo attracted the attention of both Inter Milan and FC Barcelona. It was Barcelona that was willing to pay the then world record fee of $19.5 million. During the 1996–97 season, Ronaldo scored 47 goals in 49 games in all competitions, with his goal celebration invariably the same with his arms outstretched like the statue of ""Christ the Redeemer"" that watches over his native Rio de Janeiro. He led the Catalan side to UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph where he capped the season with the winning goal in the cup final, and to Copa del"
"surprise transfer to Inter Milan. 1996–97 FC Barcelona season FC Barcelona enjoyed a decent season by winning both Copa del Rey and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The team extended its increasingly frustrating run without winning the league title to three years, as Real Madrid emerged as league winners. During the season, Ronaldo was the club's top scorer, netting 47 goals in all competitions. Upon winning both trophies, manager Bobby Robson left the club, eventually signing with PSV Eindhoven after spending a sabbatical year. He was replaced by former Ajax coach Louis Van Gaal. Top scorer Ronaldo would leave the club"
"1996–97 FC Barcelona season FC Barcelona enjoyed a decent season by winning both Copa del Rey and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The team extended its increasingly frustrating run without winning the league title to three years, as Real Madrid emerged as league winners. During the season, Ronaldo was the club's top scorer, netting 47 goals in all competitions. Upon winning both trophies, manager Bobby Robson left the club, eventually signing with PSV Eindhoven after spending a sabbatical year. He was replaced by former Ajax coach Louis Van Gaal. Top scorer Ronaldo would leave the club after this season in a"
"goalkeeper, being voted for the ""ESM Team of the Year"" after the 1994–95 season and being named in the ""IFFHS' World's Best Goalkeeper of the Year 1995"" list, finishing sixth in the voting and improving to fifth in the following year; consequently he was named in the Portugal squad for Euro 1996, being transferred after this tournament to Spain's FC Barcelona for the highest amount paid for a player in the position in the world. While he only missed one La Liga match in his first season, as Barcelona finished second to Real Madrid, adding the campaign's UEFA Cup Winners'"
"Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho () or Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is a Brazilian former professional footballer and ambassador for Barcelona. He played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a forward or a winger. He played the bulk of his career at European clubs Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and A.C. Milan as well as playing for the Brazilian national team. Often considered one of the best players of his generation and regarded by many as one of the greatest of all time, Ronaldinho won two FIFA World Player of the Year"
"of his spell. In the 2002–03 campaign he only missed one Süper Lig match, as the Istanbul-based team was crowned national champions after an eight-year wait. Aged 31, Ronaldo returned to his country but, two years later, moved abroad again, going on to be a defensive mainstay with Aris Thessaloniki F.C. in the Superleague Greece for several seasons whilst helping it qualify three times to the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League. Ronaldo represented Brazil at the 1996 Summer Olympics, playing in all the games for the bronze medal-winning squad. Ronaldo Guiaro Ronaldo Guiaro (born 18 February 1974), known as Ronaldo, is"
"magazine for best goalkeeper in both of these years. He left the club in 1998, by the order of then coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who sought to ""renew"" the club after the near relegation in 1997. Ronaldo played 602 times for Corinthians, being the team's third most capped player. After being released by Corinthians, he played for many other clubs with nowhere near the success he enjoyed with Corinthians. He was a part of the Fluminense squad that was relegated from Série B to Série C in 1998. He retired from professional football in 2005. While still playing for Corinthians, Ronaldo"
"at age 18 in 2003. After winning his first trophy, the FA Cup, during his first season in England, he helped United win three successive Premier League titles, a UEFA Champions League title, and a FIFA Club World Cup. By age 22, he had received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations and at age 23, he won his first Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards. In 2009, Ronaldo was the subject of the most expensive association football transfer when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in a transfer worth €94"
"to be named the FIFA World Player of the Year. His match-winning goal in the second leg against Porto, a 40-yard strike, earned him the inaugural FIFA Puskás Award, presented by FIFA in recognition of the best goal of the year; he later called it the best goal he had ever scored. United advanced to the final in Rome, where he made little impact in United's 2–0 defeat to Barcelona. Ronaldo ended his time in England with nine trophies, as United claimed their third successive Premier League title and a Football League Cup. He finished the campaign with 26 goals"
"goals in his debut season, while Nilis was named Dutch Footballer of the Year in an otherwise trophy-less year. After an injury-filled 1995–96 season where he still managed 12 goals, Ronaldo left for Barcelona. That season, PSV won the cup after a 5–2 win against Sparta Rotterdam. In the 1996–97 season, when Harry van Raaij became chairman, Advocaat had created a team with players like Phillip Cocu, Jaap Stam, Boudewijn Zenden and Wim Jonk. It led to the Eredivisie title, with Nilis becoming league top goalscorer (21 goals). In the 1997–98 season, the team came in second behind Ajax in"
"1996–97 Inter Milan season During the 1996–97 Italian football season, F.C. Internazionale Milano competed in Serie A. Inter finished third in the championship and reached the UEFA Cup final in Roy Hodgson's first (and only) full season in charge. The third place was Inter's best since the days of Lothar Matthäus and Andreas Brehme in the early 1990s and a starting point for further success in the coming years. The most significant happening for Inter in 1997 was the purchase of Brazilian striker Ronaldo for a record-breaking fee from Barcelona. The biggest disappointment was the fact that Inter failed to"
"the team that won the 1992–93 UEFA Cup against Borussia Dortmund, as well as a league and cup double in the 1994–95 season. Returning to Germany to play for Dortmund in 1995, Kohler won another league championship in 1996 and helped the club to the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final. In a reversal of Kohler's previous continental final, Dortmund defeated his former club Juventus to become European Champions for the first time. As a result of this success, Kohler was named German Footballer of the Year for 1997. In the 2001–02 season, the last of his career, Kohler won his"
"called Ronaldo and nicknamed Ronaldão (""big Ronaldo"") to further distinguish them. Another Brazilian player, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, now widely known as Ronaldinho, was called Ronaldinho Gaúcho when he joined the Brazilian main national team in 1999. In the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ronaldo played with the name ""Ronaldinho"" on his shirt, since centre back Ronaldo Guiaro, two years his senior, was one of his teammates. Brazil went on to win the bronze medal. Ronaldo also represented Brazil in the 1995 Copa América (finishing in second place), and won both the 1997 and the 1999 editions of the tournament."
"He was named player of the tournament in 1997, was the top scorer in 1999, and he scored in the finals of both – against Bolivia in 1997 and Uruguay in 1999. He also took part in the friendly Tournoi de France in 1997, preceding the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring a goal as Brazil finished in second. Ronaldo starred alongside Romário, dubbed the ""Ro-Ro"" attack, in the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, helping Brazil win their first ever Confederations Cup title where he finished as the third highest scorer with 4 goals, scoring a hat-trick over Australia in the final."
"latter award. In the knockout stage of the Champions League, Ronaldo scored the decisive goal against Lyon, which helped United advance to the quarter-finals 2–1 on aggregate, and, while playing as a striker, scored with a header in the 3–0 aggregate victory over Roma. United advanced to the final against Chelsea in Moscow, where, despite his opening goal being negated by an equaliser and his penalty being saved in the shoot-out, Manchester United emerged victorious. As the Champions League top scorer, Ronaldo was named the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. He additionally received the PFA Players' Player of the"
"by the same scoreline. Cristiano Ronaldo scored three goals over the two matches including the decisive penalty and a spectacular overhead kick, and having won the Champions League with Madrid for a fourth time, he transferred to Juventus a few months later for a €100 million transfer fee. In previous decades, Luis Del Sol, Michael Laudrup, Robert Jarni, Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson also featured for both clubs. It was under Florentino Pérez's first presidency (2000–2006) that Real Madrid started its ambition of becoming the world's richest professional football club. The club ceded part of its training grounds to the city"
"1996 – Chelsea pay a club record £4.9 million for Lazio and Italy midfielder Roberto Di Matteo. 4 July 1996 – Middlesbrough pay a club record £7 million for Juventus and Italy striker Fabrizio Ravanelli. 9 July 1996 – Manchester United make a £12 million offer to Blackburn Rovers for Alan Shearer, with Andy Cole in exchange – an offer which would set a national transfer record. However, the offer is rejected, with Rovers managing director Robert Coar insisting Shearer is not for sale. 10 July 1996 – Manchester United sign Norway defender Ronny Johnsen from Turkish side Beşiktaş. 11"
"awards and a Ballon d'Or. He was renowned for his technical skills and creativity; due to his agility, pace and dribbling ability, as well as his use of tricks, feints, overhead kicks, no-look passes and accuracy from free-kicks. Ronaldinho made his career debut for Grêmio, in 1998. At age 20, he moved to Paris Saint-Germain in France before signing for Barcelona in 2003. In his second season with Barcelona, he won his first FIFA World Player of the Year award, as Barcelona won La Liga. The season that followed is considered one of the best in his career as he"
"player to win FIFA World Player of the Year. Ronaldo's time at Barcelona lasted one season, as there were problems with the renegotiation of his contract. Barcelona thought the talking was over having agreed a new long term contract with the best player in the world until 2006, as Barcelona president Josep Lluís Núñez declared; ""He's ours for life"". However, when the parties reconvened to finalise the deal the following day, the agreement collapsed, with Núñez admitting: ""It's all over, Ronaldo is going"". Speaking to ESPN, Ronaldo stated, “The experience [at Barcelona] was wonderful and I had reached an agreement"
"only Pelé. At age 17, Ronaldo was the youngest member of the Brazilian squad that won the 1994 FIFA World Cup. At the 1998 World Cup, he received the Golden Ball for player of the tournament, helping Brazil reach the final where he suffered a convulsive fit hours before the defeat to France. He won a second World Cup in 2002 where he starred in a front three with Ronaldinho and Rivaldo. Ronaldo scored twice in the final, and received the Golden Boot as the tournament's top goalscorer. During the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo scored his 15th World Cup goal,"
"He moved to Brøndby IF, where he was Brøndby's league top goalscorer two years in a row, as Brøndby won the 1995–96 Superliga and 1996–97 Superliga championships. After a three-year absence, he was recalled to the Danish national team in August 1996, by new national manager Bo Johansson. He moved abroad in 1997, when he was sold to Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. He did not find success at PSV, but was included in the Danish squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He played two games at the tournament, and scored a goal against Nigeria. After the World Cup, he"
"Ronaldo moved the following year to Inter Milan from Barcelona for a fee of £17 million, which was followed in 1998 by the shock transfer of his fellow countryman Denílson from São Paulo of Brazil to Real Betis of Spain for a fee of approximately £21 million. In 1999 and 2000, Italian clubs returned to their record-breaking ways, with Christian Vieri transferring from Lazio to Inter for £28 million, while Hernán Crespo's transfer from Parma to Lazio ensured he became the first player to cost more than £30 million. The transfer of Vieri led to the suicide of a Lazio"
"Sturridge, Luis Suárez, Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Sergio Agüero and Son Heung-min. Robbie Keane has won the award while playing for three clubs, while 12 players have won the award playing for two clubs: Alan Shearer, Dion Dublin, David Ginola, Dwight Yorke, Tim Flowers, Teddy Sheringham, Danny Murphy, Andrew Johnson, Nicolas Anelka, Dimitar Berbatov, Scott Parker, Robin van Persie. The award has been shared on six occasions: by Blackburn Rovers's Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton in November 1994, Liverpool's Robbie Fowler and Stan Collymore in January 1996, Southampton's Kevin Davies and Manchester United's Andy Cole in November 1997, Arsenal's Dennis"
"of those. He was a beast; it was unfair to everyone else.” José Mourinho, who worked as an interpreter at Barcelona, referred to Ronaldo as “the greatest player I have ever seen in my life”, adding, “I have no doubts. Ronaldo is the best my eyes have seen”, and in 2014 regarded him as the best player post-Diego Maradona. Arguably Ronaldo's most memorable Barcelona goal was scored at SD Compostela on 11 October 1996. Having received the ball inside his own half, he evaded a cynical tackle of the first opponent with a drag back, before running away from another"
"play for Corinthians in the first division. In the next year, he switched local allegiances and moved to Palmeiras, helping the club successfully defend its league championship in 1994. In both 1993 and 1994, he was honoured by the authoritative publication ""Placar Magazine"" with the Bola de Ouro for the best player in his position. Before the 1996 Olympics, Parma announced that they had signed Rivaldo and his teammate Amaral from Palmeiras. After the Olympics, there was a dispute, and rather than Italy, Rivaldo moved to Spain as he joined Deportivo La Coruña in La Liga. He only stayed for"
"won the European Golden Boot after scoring 34 goals in La Liga, and he was named Serie A Footballer of the Year in 1998. One of the most marketable sportsmen in the world, the first Nike Mercurial boots–R9–were commissioned for Ronaldo in 1998. He was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the greatest living players compiled in 2004 by Pelé, and was inducted into the Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame and the Italian Football Hall of Fame. Ronaldo played for Brazil in 98 matches, scoring 62 goals, and is the second-highest goalscorer for his national team, trailing"
"of São Vicente, Cape Verde. He has one older brother, Hugo (b. 1975), and two older sisters, Elma (b. 1973) and Liliana Cátia ""Katia"" (b. 1977), who is a singer. Ronaldo grew up in a Catholic and impoverished home, sharing a room with all his siblings. As a child, Ronaldo played for amateur team Andorinha from 1992 to 1995, where his father was the kit man, and later spent two years with Nacional. In 1997, aged 12, he went on a three-day trial with Sporting CP, who signed him for a fee of £1,500. He subsequently moved from Madeira to"
"winning the 2016 and 2017 Champions Leagues, Ronaldo secured back-to-back Ballons d'Or again in 2016 and 2017. A historic third consecutive Champions League followed, making Ronaldo the first player to win the trophy five times. In 2018, he signed to Juventus in a transfer worth €100 million, the highest ever paid by an Italian club and the highest fee ever paid for a player over 30 years old. A Portuguese international, Ronaldo was named the best Portuguese player of all time by the Portuguese Football Federation in 2015. He made his senior debut for Portugal in 2003 at age 18,"
"en route to the final, he helped Juventus to qualify for the quarter-finals a match early, scoring a goal in Juventus's 1–0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford, on 20 November 1996; this was the first time that an Italian team had defeated Manchester United at their home ground. In the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final, he came off the bench to score a goal with a back-heel, which was, however, unable to prevent Juventus from losing 3–1 to Borussia Dortmund. Del Piero received nominations for both the 1997 FIFA World Player of the Year, finishing sixth and the"
"€30 million. At his unveiling as the club's new owner at Valladolid city hall, Ronaldo stated, “I have gone through many stages in my training in football to prepare for this. Football is all about passion. We want to build the best team possible to compete while also giving information about our management with transparency.” During 1997, Ronaldo met the Brazilian model and actress Susana Werner on the set of Brazilian telenovela ""Malhação"" when they acted together in three episodes. Although they never married, they began a long-term relationship and lived together in Milan until the beginning of 1999. In"
"Month and Player of the Season awards were only first bestowed during the 1994–95 season. The first Player of the Season award was given to Blackburn Rovers striker Alan Shearer, who won the Premier League title with his team and the Golden Boot that season. Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nemanja Vidić have been Player of the Season on two occasions each and are the only players to have won the award more than once, with Ronaldo having achieved this in consecutive years (2007 and 2008). Eight players were the Premier League's leading goalscorer and won the Golden Boot alongside"