Ronaldo Nazário

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, known simply as Ronaldo, was born on 18 September 1976 in Itaguaí, Brazil. The third child of Nélio Nazário de Lima Sr. and Sônia dos Santos Barata, he has an older brother, Nélio Jr. His parents split when he was 11, and soon after, he left school to chase a football career. Growing up in the Bento Ribeiro suburb of Rio de Janeiro, he played on the streets. His mother recalled often finding him playing ball with friends instead of attending class, admitting she lost that battle.

His first futsal team was Valqueire Tenis Clube, and at age 12 he joined Social Ramos, where he set a city youth league scoring record with 166 goals in his first season—including 11 of his team’s 12 goals in one match. Ronaldo has called futsal his first love, crediting it for sharpening his skills. His coach at Social Ramos, Alirio Carvalho, noted that what set Ronaldo apart was his unshakeable attitude: nothing disturbed or overawed him.

Former Brazilian star Jairzinho, then coaching São Cristóvão, spotted Ronaldo and brought him into the club’s youth system. Under coach Alfredo Sampaio, he moved quickly through the under-17 and under-20 teams despite being only 15. His agents in Brazil, Reinaldo Pitta and Alexandre Martins, signed him at age 13. Pitta said they saw immediately that he could be something different from most players. Recognized as a child prodigy, Jairzinho recommended the 16-year-old to his former club Cruzeiro.

At Cruzeiro, Ronaldo drew interest from big clubs, but his agents turned down offers from Botafogo and São Paulo. Flamengo, the team he supported as a boy, rejected him after he missed practice because he couldn’t afford the bus fare. Jairzinho helped secure a move to Cruzeiro, where his agents accepted a €50,000 offer. He scored four goals on his youth team debut. Three months later, on 25 May 1993, he made his professional debut against Caldense in the Minas Gerais State Championship. His first senior goal came during a friendly tour of Portugal, against Belenenses, impressing new coach Carlos Alberto Silva enough to earn a regular first-team spot. During that tour, his performance against Porto prompted a $500,000 bid from the Portuguese club.

Ronaldo’s professional career took off quickly. He moved to PSV in 1994, then to Barcelona in 1996 for a then-world-record transfer fee. At just 20, he was named the 1996 FIFA World Player of the Year, the youngest ever to win the award. The following year, Inter Milan broke the world record again to sign him, making Ronaldo the first player since Diego Maradona to break the transfer record twice. At 21, he won the 1997 Ballon d’Or, still the youngest recipient. By age 23, he had scored over 200 goals for club and country. But a series of knee injuries sidelined him for nearly three years. He returned to join Real Madrid in 2002, winning the 2002–03 La Liga title. Later spells at AC Milan and Corinthians followed, but further injuries led to his retirement in 2011.

For Brazil, Ronaldo earned 98 caps and scored 62 goals, making him the third-highest scorer in national team history. At 17, he was the youngest member of the squad that won the 1994 World Cup. At the 1998 World Cup, he helped Brazil reach the final—where he suffered a convulsive fit hours before kickoff—and received the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. He starred in the 2002 World Cup alongside Ronaldinho and Rivaldo, scoring twice in the final and winning the Golden Boot as top scorer.

That performance was seen as redemption for 1998, earning him the 2002 FIFA World Player of the Year award, the 2002 Ballon d’Or, and the Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year. At the 2006 World Cup, he scored his 15th World Cup goal, a tournament record at the time. He also won the 1997 Copa América, where he was named player of the tournament, and the 1999 Copa América, where he was top scorer.

Nicknamed O Fenômeno and R9, Ronaldo is widely considered one of the greatest players ever. A multi-functional striker who changed the position, he influenced the next generation of forwards. He was named FIFA World Player of the Year three times and won two Ballon d’Or awards. During his career, he was one of the most marketable athletes in the world. In 2004, Pelé included him in the FIFA 100 list of the greatest living players. He has been inducted into the Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame, the Italian Football Hall of Fame, Inter Milan’s Hall of Fame, and Real Madrid’s Hall of Fame. In 2020, France Football named him in the Ballon d’Or Dream Team, an all-time greatest XI. He has also served as a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador since 2000.

After retiring, Ronaldo became the majority owner of Real Valladolid in September 2018, buying 51% of the club’s shares. In December 2021, he bought a controlling stake in his boyhood club Cruzeiro, investing $70 million. He sold that stake in April 2024.