Ronaldinho

Player Information

Full name: Ronaldo Assis de Moreira (Ronaldinho)
Date of birth: March 21, 1980
Birthplace: Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Nationality: Brazilian
2nd nationality: Spanish
EU passport: Yes
Height: 180 cms
Weight: 76 kgs

Club: Milan
Position: Attacking Midfielder/Forward [L, C]
Squad Number: 80
Contract expires: June 2011
Previous clubs: Grêmio > Paris St-Germain > (€30m) Barcelona > Milan

International debut: June 1999, v Latvia
International Caps: 62
International Goals: 27
World Cups: Korea/Japan 2002 (1st), Germany 2006

Awards

FIFA U-17 World Cup (1997)
Copa América (1999)
FIFA World Cup (2002)
FIFA Confederations Cup (2005)

UEFA Champions League (2006)

Spanish La Liga (2005, 2006)
Spanish Super Cup (2005, 2006)

FIFA Confederations Cup Top Scorer (1999)
Spanish La Liga Player of the Season (2004, 2006)
World Soccer Player of the World (2004, 2005)
FIFA World Player of the Year (2004, 2005)
UEFA Champions League Best Forward (2005)
FIFPro World Player of the Year (2005, 2006)
European Footballer of the Year (2005)
UEFA Club Footballer of the Year (2006)

Biography

1980
Born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on March 21. Full name Ronaldo Assis de Moreira. His brother Roberto is a former Brazilian international.
1997
Top scorer when Brazil win under-17 world championship in Egypt.
1998
Makes his debut at professional level with his local team Gremio, playing five games.
1999
April: Member of the Brazilian team that reached the FIFA World Youth Championship quarterfinals in Nigeria.
June-July: Plays first game for Brazil senior squad against Latvia. Wins Copa America with Brazil, scoring his first international goal against Venezuela.
August: Top scorer in the Confederations Cup with six goals, Brazil loses final against Mexico.
2001
Signs for Paris St Germain on a five-year contract. Moves to Paris in March but starts playing only at the beginning of the 2001-2002 season after a legal battle between PSG and Gremio over the transfer fee. Gremio receive only $4.5 million.
2002
June: Wins World Cup with Brazil, scores with a spectacular 35-metre lob against England in the quarter-finals.
August: Resumes playing with PSG late after recovering from the World Cup. His relationship with coach Luis Fernandez deteriorates.
2003
Makes it clear he hopes to leave PSG after they fail to qualify for European competition. His brother and now agent Roberto Assis starts negotiations with Manchester United but Barcelona make an offer for the Brazilian.
July: Ronaldinho signs a five-year contract with Barcelona for a reported fee of 25 million euros ($29.4 million).
September: Scores his first league goal for Barcelona in the 1-1 draw against Sevilla, completing a meandering run from inside his own half with a stunning 25-metre shot.
October: Scores a hat-trick as Barcelona crush Slovak side Puchov 8-0 in the UEFA Cup.
Ends his first season with Barca with 14 league goals, inspiring the team to a 17-game unbeaten run that lifts them to a second-place finish.
2004
November: Inspires Barcelona to a 3-0 win over arch-rivals Real Madrid at the Nou Camp.
December: Named FIFA World Player of the Year ahead of Thierry Henry and Andriy Shevchenko. Comes third behind Shevchenko and team mate Deco in the vote for European Footballer of the Year.
2005
May: Wins title with Barcelona, the Catalan club's first trophy in six years.
June: Captains Brazil's Confederations Cup-winning side. Scores in the 4-1 victory over Argentina in the final.
August: Agrees to renew his contract with Barcelona until 2010.
September: Wins the inaugural FIFPro World Player of the Year award after a poll of players in 40 countries.
November 19: Steers Barcelona to a 3-0 win over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, scoring two virtuoso solo goals - the second of which earned a standing ovation from fans of the Madrid club.
November: Becomes the third Brazilian to win the Ballon d'Or (European footballer of the year) after his compatriots Ronaldo, who won it in 1997 and 2002, and Rivaldo, who won it in 1999.
December: Named Fifa's World Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
2006
May: Helps FC Barcelona to win its second straight Spanish league title and 18th overall.. Helps the team to win the UEFA Champions League.
August 20: Helped FC Barcelona to won their first trophy of the new season as they defeated Espanyol 3-0 in the second leg of the Super Cup in Camp Nou.
August 24: Declared UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in Monaco.
October 12: Included among the 30 nominees for the FIFA World Player of the Year Award.
October 17: Included among the 50 nominees for the European Footballer of the Year Award.
November 6: Ronaldinho wins the FIFPro Player of the Year award for the second successive season.
November 27: Ronaldinho collected 73 points to finish fourth in the European Footballer of the Year award.
December 14: Inspired by the brillian Ronaldinho, European champions Barcelona have moved into the Club World Cup final with a classy 4-0 win over Mexico's Club America.
December 17: Played in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2006 as Barcelona is defeated by Brazil's Internacional with a late-goal in Yokohama.
2007
August 27: Granted dual nationality by Spain.
October 5: Included in the FIFPro Team of the Year.
2008
July 17: Greeted by 40,000 cheering AC Milan supporters after signing a three-year contract with the seven-time European champions.
August 22: Member of the Brazilian team that won the Bronze Medal at the Beijing Olympic Games.
September 28: Ronaldinho picked the perfect day to claim his first Serie A goal as his header gave AC Milan a 1-0 victory against FC Internazionale Milano.

FIFA World Cup™ Germany 2006 player's profile

Despite being blessed with breathtaking skill and almost supernatural ball control, the endearingly-modest Ronaldinho Gaucho still blushes when he is mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Zico or Pele. He may not pursue the kind of legendary status afforded to Brazilian greats Garrincha, Didi or Vava, but with each passing game the feeling grows that Ronaldinho could become one of the finest players the world has ever seen.
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, better known as Ronaldinho, was born on 21 March 1980 in the Restinga district of Porto Alegre, in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. At the age of seven, older brother Roberto Assis, a professional at local side Gremio Porto Alegre, took the talented youngster to join his club’s youth set-up. The Barcelona star has never forgotten his sibling’s help in getting him where he is today. “My biggest hero is my brother. He’s a shining example as a father, a brother and a footballer.”

Eight years on, Ronaldinho received his first call-up for the Brazilian national team’s junior side, and two years later he was a member of the team that won the FIFA U-17 World Championship in Egypt.

The Brazilian maestro turned professional in 1998, celebrating his first contract by helping Gremio to a 1-0 win over Rio de Janeiro side Vasco de Gama.

It would be another year before ‘Ronnie’ caught the eye of the world’s footballing elite. In 1999, having top-scored in his side’s State Championship win, Ronaldinho made his official debut for the Seleção in a friendly against Latvia. During that year’s Copa America, the fleet-footed forward gave a tantalising glimpse of what was to come with a wonder goal in Brazil’s 7-0 rout of Venezuela.

Namesake Ronaldo
It was around that time, as Ronaldinho’s career began to take off, that he was christened with the surname Gaucho, used to describe people from the Rio Grande do Sul region, in order to avoid confusion with the other Ronaldo, still known by many Brazilians as Ronaldinho. Nowadays, the pair’s fame has reached such levels that such a distinction is no longer necessary.

In 2001, the rising star moved from Gremio to French side Paris Saint-Germain, though not without a protracted transfer wrangle between the parties involved. The move was completed in time for Ronaldinho to seal a place in the Auriverde squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™, where he played a vital role in Brazil’s success.

In the aftermath of his country’s record fifth FIFA World Cup win, Ronaldinho returned to PSG, although not for very long. Despite speculation linking him with both Manchester United and Real Madrid, he ended up at Catalan giants Barcelona, who forked out a club-record €30m for his signature.

The FIFA World Cup winner arrived at Barça in time for the 2003/04 campaign when, after a rocky start to the season, a Ronaldinho-inspired revival saw Barcelona clinch second place behind Valencia. In 2005, the attacker reaffirmed his hero status in the eyes of the Azulgrana supporters with nine league goals and umpteen assists in his side’s 17th Primera Liga title win, their first since 1998/99.

Currently one of the most famous faces in world football, Ronaldinho has amassed an admirable collection of individual awards in a relatively short space of time. In 2005 he was presented with France Football magazine’s Golden Ball, awarded to the European Player of the Year, before crowning an amazing 12 months with his second consecutive FIFA World Player of the Year award.

Technically brilliant and a wonderful dribbler, Ronaldinho is an automatic choice in Carlos Alberto Parreira’s Brazil side at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

Despite all his success, Ronaldinho admits: “I used to be always thinking about bizarre things, I was a real dreamer. During the World Cup in 1994, I watched Romario smile and thought: ‘I want to look like that.’ Later on, when Ronaldo was voted the best player in the world, I wanted to be just like him…” The charismatic Brazilian’s words are proof of one thing: Dreams do sometimes come true.

© 2001-2006 FIFA, All Rights Reserved

UEFA Champions League 2005-06 player's profile

One of the world's most dangerous and exciting players, Ronaldinho is equally proficient at creating chances or finishing, can play anywhere up front and is deadly from free-kicks.

National team
Brilliant at the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1997 and top scorer in the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup, the Brazilian helped his country squeeze narrowly into the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals. In Korea/Japan he was exceptional, scoring against China and the quarter-final winner against England to help his country to a record fifth World Cup triumph. Although he sat out the 2004 Copa América, he is a vital component in their 2006 World Cup campaign, and scored in the 2005 Confederations Cup final as Brazil defeated Argentina 4-1.

Club
Beginning his career with Grêmio Football Porto Alegrense in his homeland, the buck-toothed playmaker appeared in 36 league games over four years, scoring 13 times before making a controversial transfer to French side Paris Saint-Germain FC in 2001.

2002: Although his time in Paris was not successful in terms of trophies, Ronaldinho was the outstanding player in an average PSG team, scoring 17 times in more than 50 league games over two seasons in the French capital.

2003: Ronaldinho became FC Barcelona's record signing in July when he agreed a €30m move after a protracted transfer saga. The Catalan club's hefty investment was amply rewarded, however, as the Brazilian scored 22 times in his first season to help Barça to second place in the Primera Divisón. He signed an improved contract in summer 2004, increasing his buy-out clause to a reported €150m.

2004/05: He was voted FIFA Player of the Year and delighted spectators in the UEFA Champions League: his jaw-dropping, last-gasp winner against AC Milan in the group stage was only surpassed by a seemingly impossible strike in the return leg against Chelsea FC on 8 March but Barça lost the tie 5-4 on aggregate. Consolation came in the form of the Spanish title.

Did you know?
While filming a television commercial in March 2004, Ronaldinho broke a window in the 12th century cathedral Santiago de Compostela.

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