This profile for Ronaldinho chronicles events from the start of the player’s career to the 2008 football season.
Affectionately known as Ronaldinho, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira was born on March 21, 1980 in Porto Alegre, Brazil and currently plays his club football for FC Barcelona in the Spanish La Liga and the Brazilian national team. The mid fielder’s club career began in 1998 when he played in the Libertadores Cup for Grêmio, his goal scoring ability and ball skills earned him a place in the Brazilian national team in 1999.
At the end of his season in 2001 at Grêmio, a number of clubs sought to lure him to their clubs; most notably Manchester united but the midfielder signed a five year contract with Paris Saint-Germain FC in France and moved there for the season beginning 2001-2002. He never ended his contract at PSG as his then coach Luis Fernandez claimed the player seemed more interested in the nightlife in Paris rather than in his football career. Having built up a reputation of performing against the big teams, the Brazilian earned himself a place in the hearts of many people around the world and in his country.
In 2002 destined to prove his status on the world scene Ronaldinho helped Brazil to lift the world cup with outstanding performances particularly against England. However, this didn’t do to much to enhance the profile for Ronaldinho as his performance was blemished by being shown a red card in the same match. Fresh from his world cup triumph, the midfielder returned to PSG and made it clear he wanted to leave. Having attracted the interest of the perennial Spanish giants Barcelona; on July 19, 2003, the maestro was acquired by the club for a tidy sum of £21 million.
Eager to prove his worth the Brazilian scored his first goal for the club in an exhibition game with AC Milan which was played in front of a crowd of 45,000 at the RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. His dream start to the season was not to be as he suffered an injury and returned to action inspiring Barcelona to second place in La Liga. In the seasons that followed the midfield phenomenon guided Barcelona to back to back La Liga titles and the coveted Champions league title.
Ronaldinho’s profile and the Brazilian Team
After Brazil’s surprise elimination from the 2006 world cup in Germany, the midfielder placed third in the 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year, an award he won in 2004 and 2005. In 2008 after a disappointing season plagued with injury for Barcelona, the Brazilian midfielder was linked to a transfer to AC Milan. Among his accolades are: The FIFA World Cup 2002, the FIFA U-17 World Cup 1997 and the Confederations Cup 2005.
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