Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer)
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of birth | [2] | 18 September 1976||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Itaguaí,[3] Brazil | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position(s) |
Striker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1990–1993 | São Cristóvão[5] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1993–1994 | Cruzeiro | 34 | (34) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1994–1996 | PSV | 46 | (42) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1996–1997 | Barcelona | 37 | (34) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1997–2002 | Inter Milan | 68 | (49) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2002–2007 | Real Madrid | 127 | (83) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2007–2008 |
AC Milan | 20 | (9) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2009–2011 | Corinthians | 52 | (29) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total | 384 | (280) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1993 | Brazil U17 | 7 | (5) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1996 | Brazil U23 | 8 | (6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1994–2011 | Brazil | 98 | (62) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima (Brazilian Portuguese:
Ronaldo started his career at
Ronaldo played for
Ronaldo was one of the most marketable sportsmen in the world during his playing career. He was named in the
Early life
Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima was born on 18 September 1976 in
Spotted by former Brazilian player Jairzinho, who was coaching São Cristóvão, Ronaldo played for the São Cristóvão youth team.[14] Under the guidance of coach Alfredo Sampaio, he progressed quickly through the ranks, playing for the clubs' under-17 and under-20 teams while only 15.[13] Ronaldo's agents in Brazil, Reinaldo Pitta and Alexandre Martins, signed him as a 13-year-old. Pitta stated: "We saw right away that he could be something different than most other players."[9] Recognized as a child prodigy, Jairzinho recommended the then 16-year-old to his former club Cruzeiro.[15]
Club career
Cruzeiro
Ronaldo quickly attracted attention from big clubs, and his agents rejected offers from
Three months after arriving at Cruzeiro, Ronaldo made his professional debut on 25 May 1993 against
Upon returning from the 1993 summer tour, he would score 20 goals in 21 games for Cruzeiro until the end of the year. On 5 October 1993 he scored his first senior career hat-trick against Chilean side Colo-Colo (6–1) in the first home leg of the Supercopa Libertadores.[18] He scored two more in the second leg, further three against Uruguayan team Nacional, and finished as the tournament's top-scorer with 8 goals,[13] being the youngest to do so in the history of the Supercopa Libertadores.
On 7 November 1993 he came to national public attention once more by scoring five goals in Cruzeiro's 6–0 home win against Bahia[19] in the 1993 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and became the youngest South-American in history to score a league hat-trick, only behind Pelé.[20][21]
Ronaldo scored a total of 44 goals in 47 games with Cruzeiro in two seasons, leading them to their first Copa do Brasil in 1993, and the Minas Gerais State Championship in 1994.[22]
PSV
Ronaldo joined
Nick Miller, match reporter for The Guardian, writes: "What's striking about Ronaldo in that first year at PSV is how complete he looks, even as a skinny teenager. Everything that would come to define him – the lightning pace, the blurry
Barcelona
During his spell at PSV, Ronaldo attracted the attention of both Inter Milan and Barcelona. It was Barcelona that was willing to pay the then-world record fee of $19.5 million, and he joined the club on 17 July 1996.[28] According to manager Bobby Robson, he signed an eight-year contract, and would play up front alone.[29]
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.[28] He helped Barcelona to the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup title, capping the season with the winning goal in the final, and to a win in the 1996 Supercopa de España.[30] He also won La Liga top scorer award in 1997 with 34 goals in 37 games, and the European Golden Shoe.[31] Until the 2008–09 season, Ronaldo remained the last player to score more than 30 goals in La Liga.[31]
Ronaldo was at his physical peak at Barcelona, and many of his 47 goals involved him rounding the goalkeeper before slotting the ball into the net.[28] By January 1997, at 20 years old, he was touted to be the next "great" in football, being viewed as the heir to Pelé, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff[32] and Marco van Basten.[33] Speaking to The New York Times regarding Ronaldo later that season, Robson said "I don't think I've ever seen a player at 20 have so much".[34] World Soccer featured Ronaldo on its cover in the same year under the headline 'The Best Ever?'.[33] Óscar García, Ronaldo's teammate that season, stated, "Back then, he was all fibre and muscle. He was a perfect physical specimen. Such incredible power matched to his technical skills could make him unstoppable."[35] 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",[36] and in 2014 regarded him as the best player post-Diego Maradona.[37]
Arguably, Ronaldo's most memorable Barcelona goal was scored at 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 and ran towards goal, going past two more defenders in the box with close ball control, before finishing into the bottom corner of the net.[28] The camera then cut to manager Robson who had got up off the bench and clasped his head in disbelief at what he had seen.[28] The footage of the goal was later used in a Nike advert with a voiceover asking: "Imagine you asked God to be the best player in the world, and he listened to you",[28] and the goal was said to have been replayed 160 times on the main Spanish television channels in the 48 hours following the game.[34] Half-way through the season, Barcelona agreed in principle to extend his contract to 2006, doubling his salary in the process.[34] A hat-trick against Valencia, the third goal of which saw him dissect two Valencia defenders before striking the ball into the net, saw Barcelona fans waving white handkerchiefs as an expression of admiration for an exceptional performance. Sid Lowe of Sports Illustrated stated: "That season Ronaldo was unstoppable. He was slim and powerful, skillful, fast and deadly. He was ridiculously good."[38] At the end of 1996, aged 20, Ronaldo became the youngest player to win FIFA World Player of the Year.[28]
Inter Milan
1997–1999: World record transfer and Ballon d'Or win
Ronaldo's time at Barcelona lasted one season, as there were problems with the renegotiation of his contract.
Ronaldo adapted to the Italian style of the game in his first season, finishing with 25 Serie A goals, and was named
1999–2002: Recurring injury problems
"The knee injuries suffered at Inter Milan took away the explosiveness that made him possibly the greatest young footballer of all time, a futuristic fusion of speed, strength and skill. That is not to belittle Ronaldo's achievements in the second half of his career, when he scored eight goals in a single World Cup [in 2002] and became the first Ronaldo to receive a standing ovation at Old Trafford [in 2003], but it is the memory of the early years that puts mist in the eyes of grown men."
—Rob Smyth, The Guardian.[26]
After two seasons with Inter, A.C. Milan defender
Ronaldo was forced to miss the entire
Real Madrid
2002–2005: Ballon d'Or win and La Liga championship
Having signed for
In the second leg of Real Madrid's Champions League quarter-final, Ronaldo
In the
2005–2007: Final two seasons
In his final two seasons at Real Madrid, Ronaldo missed a number of games with injuries and weight issues, and with the acquisition of Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2006, he grew further out of favour with the manager Fabio Capello.[76] Speaking in 2017 on Ronaldo's weight issues and lack of fitness at Madrid, in addition to his ability, Capello summed up the conflicting emotions he has with the Brazilian: "The most difficult player to handle was the best I coached: Ronaldo, il Fenomeno."[77]
In four and a half seasons at the club, Ronaldo scored
While past his 1990s prime, Ronaldo still drew praise from his Madrid colleagues, with Zidane stating: "Without hesitation, Ronaldo is the best player I ever played with or against. He had such an ease with the ball. Every day I trained with him, I saw something different, something new, something beautiful."[80] Michael Owen, who joined Madrid in 2004, acknowledged that he never got the chance to play with Ronaldo in his prime when "he had absolute blistering speed and strength, mesmerizing foot speed, he was just a blur, he'd be that fast", before adding, "even in training, he showed more than enough to convince me that I would have loved to play with him at his peak."[81] Teammates for six months, Van Nistelrooy said: "Ronaldo was the best natural talent I ever played with. His innate ability went beyond anything that I'd ever seen or played alongside."[82][83]
AC Milan
On 18 January 2007, it was reported that Ronaldo agreed terms with
After his move to Milan, Ronaldo joined the list of the few players to have played for both Inter Milan and AC Milan in the
Despite tremendous success over the past decade, Ronaldo never won the
On 13 February 2008, Ronaldo suffered a severe season-ending knee injury while jumping for a cross in Milan 1–1 draw with Livorno, and was stretchered off and taken to a hospital.
Corinthians
2009–2010: Paulistão and Copa do Brasil
Ronaldo trained with Rio de Janeiro based Brazilian club
Ronaldo played his first match for Corinthians on 4 March 2009, a
Ronaldo scored in Corinthians 4–2 aggregate defeat of
2011: Retirement
In February 2010, Ronaldo signed a contract extension with Corinthians that would keep him with the club until the end of 2011, and said he would then retire.[116][117] Commenting on his weight issues following this announcement, Brian Homewood of The Guardian stated: "Sadly, Ronaldo's celebrity is now more of a draw than his skills on the pitch – Coldplay, Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres and actor Hugh Jackman have all visited São Paulo to get a picture with the roly‑poly star."[118]
In February 2011, after Corinthians were eliminated from the 2011 Copa Libertadores by the Colombian team Deportes Tolima, Ronaldo announced his retirement from football, concluding an 18-year career.[119][120][121] In an emotional press conference on 14 February, he cited pain and hypothyroidism as the reasons for his premature retirement.[122] He discovered he had hypothyroidism – a condition which slows down metabolism and causes weight gain – during tests with Milan in 2007.[123]
The player said that the problem could be solved by taking hormones, but this practice is forbidden in football and would lead to a suspension for doping.[124] However, doctors disagree that such treatment would be confused with doping, with some publicly claiming that Ronaldo had lied when he said could not treat his hypothyroidism.[125] Corinthians' own doctor said that Ronaldo did not have this disease. Hypothyroidism is usually associated with a slight weight gain (eminently due to fluid accumulation, not fat gain) and difficulty getting rid of extra pounds.[126][127]
Ronaldo admitted his body had finally succumbed to the crippling litany of injuries that had blighted his career: "It's very hard to leave something that made me so happy. Mentally I wanted to continue but I have to acknowledge that I lost to my body. The head wants to go on but the body can't take any more. I think of an action but I can't do it the way I want to. It's time to go."[128]
International career
Ronaldo made his international debut for
Summer Olympics and Copa América
At the
1998 FIFA World Cup
"The way he combined powerhouse athleticism with a poetic touch made for an awesome sight. In the 1990s, in his physical pomp, in his free-flowing prime, there was nothing remotely like him. By the time the 1998 World Cup came along his reputation had extended to the point of fully formed marvel. A happening."
—Amy Lawrence, The Guardian.[131]
Ronaldo entered the 1998 FIFA World Cup billed as the world's greatest player by reporters in the sport.[142] Jacob Steinberg of The Guardian writes, "In 1998, no one was as ferociously talented as Ronaldo, whose supernatural mixture of power, pace and skill had made him the player every child in the playground wanted to be; at the age of 21, the hopes and dreams of a nation rested on his shoulders."[142]
Ronaldo scored four goals and made three assists en route to the
Ronaldo was the last Brazilian player out of the tunnel as the teams entered the field. During the playing of the Brazil national anthem the camera focused on him throughout, with Ronaldo showing little emotion.[149] Steinberg states that Ronaldo "sleepwalked" through the final, which also saw him injured in a collision with French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.[142] Zagallo admitted the fears over Ronaldo affected his team psychologically, and stated "for the whole of the first half I was wondering whether to take him off", but feared a public outcry in Brazil had he done so.[142] Brazil lost the match to hosts France 3–0.[150] Ronaldo later reflected: "We lost the World Cup but I won another cup – my life."[143]
An inquest was launched in Brazil, with team doctor Lídio Toledo telling the commission "imagine if I stopped Ronaldo playing and Brazil lost. At that moment I'd have to go and live on the North Pole."
When Ronaldo's health scare was revealed after the match, the situation's unique circumstances lent itself to conspiracy theories. Here was the world's most famous sportsman, about to take part in the most important match of his career, when he suddenly, inexplicably, fell ill. Was it stress, epilepsy, or had he been drugged?"[153]
A conspiracy surrounded Nike, the sportswear company who sponsored Ronaldo and the Brazilian national team, with some in Brazil believing the company had forced Ronaldo to play.[153] The parliamentary inquiry was unable to find any wider conspiracy, although the Brazilian public remained unconvinced.[153] Reporting for CNN, Don Riddell wrote, "It's one of the great mysteries of our time: not the Loch Ness Monster, Stonehenge or the Lost City of Atlantis; it's the case of the missing striker – not so much a whodunit, more a kind of a what the heck happened?"[154]
2002 FIFA World Cup
Prior to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Ronaldo had barely played since rupturing the cruciate ligament in his right knee in April 2000, and he missed Brazil's entire qualification campaign where, in his absence, the team had been poor.[155]
Ronaldo scored against every opponent in the tournament except in the quarter-finals against
Ronaldo received a number of accolades for his achievement, including the Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year and the BBC World Sport Star of the Year, and in December 2002 he dedicated his third FIFA World Player of the Year award to the medical team which helped him recover.[167][168][169] In a 2017 interview with Fox Sports, Ronaldo stated, "the best team I played in was the Brazilian one in 2002, we felt that we could always score. It was a team without any vanity, or individuals. The collective was important."[170]
2006 FIFA World Cup
On 2 June 2004, Ronaldo scored an unusual hat-trick of penalties for Brazil against arch-rivals Argentina in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match, which put them top of the group.[171] With 10 goals in 15 games, including a goal against Venezuela in the last game to secure first place, Ronaldo was the South American top scorer in Brazil's qualifying campaign.[172] Prior to the tournament, questions were asked of his weight and fitness,[173][174] but was declared fit for Brazil's opening match with Croatia.[175]
At the
With two goals against Japan in the third match, Ronaldo became the 20th player to score in three World Cups and also equalled the all-time World Cup finals scoring record of fourteen, held by Gerd Müller (Ronaldo scored at France 98, Korea/Japan 2002 and Germany 2006).[181] He then broke Müller's record in the Round of 16 match against Ghana by scoring his fifteenth-career World Cup goal.[68][182] With his third goal of the tournament, Ronaldo became only the second player ever, after Jürgen Klinsmann, to score at least three goals in each of three World Cups.[183] Brazil, however, were knocked out by France 1–0 with a goal by striker Thierry Henry in the quarter-finals.[184] Ronaldo was awarded the Bronze Shoe as the third-highest goal-scorer of the World Cup.[185]
Having been listed in Guinness World Records, Ronaldo stated, "I am proud of my career and of the records I set. But I know that one day they will be broken."[186] Ronaldo and Klinsmann's shared record of at least three goals in three separate World Cup finals was broken by German striker Miroslav Klose, who has a record of at least four goals in each of three tournaments, having netted five at both the 2002 and 2006 finals, and four at the 2010 tournament.[187] Ronaldo finished with fifteen goals in nineteen World Cup matches, for an average of 0.79 per game.[188] His teammate Kaká reflected, "Ronaldo is the best player I have ever played with. I have seen il Fenomeno do things nobody else has ever done."[189]
Farewell match and sporadic appearances
In February 2011, it was announced that Ronaldo would be given one last match for Brazil, a friendly against Romania in São Paulo on 7 June 2011, five years after his last match with the national team.[190] Brazilian Football Confederation official Ricardo Teixeira stated that it was fitting that his final game should take place in Brazil while representing his nation.[191]
Ronaldo played for 15 minutes in a match that ended with a Brazilian victory with a goal from Fred.[192] Fred celebrated his goal with Ronaldo's famous 'finger wag' celebration along with his Brazilian teammates. Ronaldo was introduced after 30 minutes, partnering 19-year-old Neymar in attack, and had three shots on target which were saved by the Romanian goalkeeper Ciprian Tătărușanu.[193] After the first half ended, Ronaldo made a farewell speech to the crowd.[193] With 62 goals for Brazil Ronaldo retired from international football as the second-highest goalscorer for his country, behind only Pelé (Neymar has since surpassed Pelé, with Ronaldo the third-highest scorer as of September 2023).[194][195]
On 13 December 2011 Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane played a charity match with their friends against former and current players of the German team Hamburg in the ninth edition of the Match Against Poverty series, which Ronaldo and Zidane established in 2003.[196][197][198] In December 2012, Ronaldo and Zidane reunited for the Match Against Poverty in Porto Alegre, Portugal, with the field littered with World Cup winners from France and Brazil, which also saw 1982 World Cup star Zico (Ronaldo's childhood idol) turn out for Ronaldo's team.[199] In January 2013, Ronaldo was named one of the six ambassadors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.[200]
Ronaldo was chosen as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2000 as he had the highest global appeal among sportspeople, and he accepted the role as he saw it as "an obligation" to help with causes around the world.[201] Ronaldo played in the UNDP's 11th Match Against Poverty on 4 March 2014 against a Zidane XI in Bern, Switzerland, with proceeds raised helping the recovery efforts in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.[202] Joined by Didier Drogba in attack, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in the next year's match on 21 April 2015 in St Etienne, France, with proceeds going towards the African countries most affected by the Ebola epidemic.[203][204]
On 14 June 2018, Ronaldo featured at the 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia.[205] He walked out with a child wearing a Russia 2018 shirt at the beginning, and returned at the end of the ceremony with the official ball of the 2018 World Cup – Adidas Telstar 18 – which was sent into space with the International Space Station crew in March and came back to Earth in early June.[205]
Style of play and legacy
Ronaldo is regarded as one of the greatest and most complete forwards of all time.
His coach at Barcelona, Bobby Robson, commented: "Ronaldo could start from the halfway line and the whole stadium would ignite. He was the fastest thing I've ever seen running with the ball. Had he managed to stay free of injury, he had every chance of becoming the best footballer ever."[26] In one on one situations, Ronaldo often used elaborate feints to trick and beat defenders and goalkeepers; he popularised the use of many football tricks such as the elastico and the step over.[68][76][216] Sid Lowe of Sports Illustrated wrote, "When he was one on one with the goalkeeper, you knew that he would score. He was so natural, so cool, so utterly in control. He would dip the shoulder, step over, and bang!"[38]
"There were two Ronaldos: the one that returned after long-term injury in 2002 was a great goalscorer, but the 1990s version was a great everything. At his fearsome peak for PSV, Barcelona and Inter Milan he was arguably the most dangerous striker the world has ever seen."
—Rob Smyth, The Guardian.[26]
His Barcelona teammate Óscar García observed, "I'd never seen anyone play football with such technical ability, creativity and precision at that incredible speed. What stood out to all of us, from the moment we met Ronnie, was that he could do things which other players found very difficult and make them look easy. But he could also produce those things while running at an unbelievable, explosive pace."[35] With his combination of speed, skill and finishing Ronaldinho called Ronaldo "the most complete striker there has ever been", a view echoed by Zlatan Ibrahimović, who stated, "as a football player, he was complete. There will never, in my view, be a better player than him."[217] The goalscoring idol of Lionel Messi, the Argentine states "Ronaldo was the best striker I've ever seen. He was so fast he could score from nothing."[218] Wanting to emulate Ronaldo growing up, Egypt and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah opined, "The ability, the speed, the intelligence, he had everything".[219] Naming Ronaldo as an inspiration, Wayne Rooney stated, "as an out-and-out forward he was probably the best."[220] The outstanding influence for a generation of strikers, from Karim Benzema to Sergio Agüero, with Romelu Lukaku stating "he changed the dimension of a striker" and could "dribble like a winger, run like a sprinter", Zlatan added, "nobody influenced football and the players who emerged as much as Ronaldo".[221]
Ronaldo, as so many of those who looked up to him acknowledge, changed what it is to be a centre-forward. Every time you see a striker who is expected to hold the ball up, beat players, win headers, shoot from range, drop deep, do everything a striker can possibly do – it might be worth remembering him. He shifted boundaries, challenged convention, just as much as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have altered our perceptions of what a winger might be. Ronaldo, the original Ronaldo, inspired a phalanx of imitators, players we see on our screens every weekend. But he also turned the game so that it will always look just a little bit like him. More than most, he made that No. 9 his own.
Emilio Butragueño stated, "Ronaldo creates a goalscoring opportunity where it doesn't exist. Most strikers need the midfielders and their teammates, but he does not."[222] On his speed of thought, Kaká said "For me the best players are those who are able to think of a play and execute it quickest and in the best way possible, and Ronaldo was the best at that. The speed of thought he had – and the speed he had to carry out his actions – were perfect."[222] Ronaldo was also a strong and powerful player who could shield the ball from the opposition, with former Italian defender Alessandro Nesta (who faced Ronaldo in a high-profile one on one duel in the 1998 UEFA Cup final which was billed as "the best attacker against the best defender in Serie A") stating: "It was the worst experience of my career. Ronaldo is the hardest attacker I've ever had to face."[223] Asked who was the toughest opponent of his career, Fabio Cannavaro responded, "I have no doubt, Ronaldo, the phenomenon. For my generation he was what Maradona or Pelé were for the previous ones. He was unmarkable."[224] Sid Lowe compared Ronaldo's ability to take on a number of opponents on a single run to what rugby player Jonah Lomu was doing in the same era.[38] Regarding Ronaldo's influence on the evolution of the centre-forward role, French former forward Thierry Henry said: "He did things nobody had seen before. He, together with Romário and George Weah, reinvented the centre-forward position. They were the first to drop from the box to pick up the ball in midfield, switch to the flanks, attract and disorientate the central defenders with their runs, their accelerations, their dribbling."[225]
Comparing his natural ability to Roger Federer, Paul MacDonald of Goal wrote, "there's a joy to be had watching something we know to be extremely difficult executed with considerable ease. Ronaldo in his prime was able to do that better than anyone who has ever played the game."[226] A reliance on his superior innate ability is given as a reason for his application in training often not being as high as his teammates – though his knee issues may also have been a factor – with his Brazil teammate Emerson stating "Ronaldo felt he didn't need to work as hard as us, that he could do in two days what the rest of us would take ten days to do. And usually, he was right".[226] On his precocious talent – a talent which saw him become the youngest FIFA World Player of the Year at age 20, and youngest Ballon d'Or recipient aged 21 – Rob Smyth of The Guardian wrote in 2016, "Ronaldo is easily the best of the past 30 years, possibly ever. The other Ronaldo and Messi were brilliant teenagers but had nothing like the same impact at that age. Only Pelé, Diego Maradona and George Best can really compare."[26] Asked to name the best player of his lifetime, José Mourinho said, "Ronaldo, El Fenomeno. Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi have had longer careers. They have remained at the top every day for 15 years. However, if we are talking strictly about talent and skill, nobody surpasses Ronaldo."[227] Mikaël Silvestre states, "I played against [Lionel] Messi and I played with Cristiano at Manchester United, but he [Ronaldo] is something else in terms of speed. Cristiano, maybe you can guess that he has three or four tricks he would use most of the time, but Ronaldo, it was always something different. He was inventing things on the spot, so you can't guide him left or right because he's going to get out of these situations, no matter what".[228] In 2020, Ronaldo was named in the Ballon d'Or Dream Team, a greatest all-time XI published by France Football magazine.[229]
At his physical peak in the 1990s, Ronaldo became severely affected by the knee injuries he suffered from late 1999 onward and the subsequent weight gain during his inactivity, which limited his speed, fitness, and mobility.[76][210] According to his physiotherapist Nilton Petrone, Ronaldo was vulnerable to injury due to a medical condition combined with his explosive running. "Ronaldo had a problem called trochlear dysplasia. This makes the relationship between the kneecap and the femur a bit unstable. There is no direct surgery for that so the kneecap keeps, for a lack of a better word, "dancing" on the femur. Ronaldo's injuries weren't because his body was weak, but because of his explosive capacity. He didn't just run fast in a straight line, he also changed direction at incredible speed. Ronaldo moved from left to right very fast...so it was obvious, by the way that he played, that injuries were always a possibility".[57] Acknowledging "he was never quite the same" after his knee injury in 2000, with "his pace and sheer brute force diminished in comparison to The Phenomenon" in the 1990s, FourFourTwo magazine ranked him the best player at the 2002 World Cup, adding "he was still a cut above the rest" in the tournament.[230]
Club ownership
Real Valladolid
In September 2018, Ronaldo became the majority owner of La Liga club Real Valladolid after buying a 51% controlling stake in the club for €30 million.[231][232] 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."[232]
Cruzeiro
In December 2021, Ronaldo bought a controlling stake in his boyhood club Cruzeiro. Investing 400 million reais ($70 million) in the club, Ronaldo stated he wants to "give back to Cruzeiro and take them where they deserve to be."[233]
Outside football
Personal life
In 1997, Ronaldo met the Brazilian model and actress Susana Werner on the set of the Brazilian telenovela Malhação when they acted together in three episodes.[234][235] Although they never married, they began a long-term relationship and lived together in Milan until the beginning of 1999.[236]
In December 1999, Ronaldo married Brazilian footballer Milene Domingues, at the time pregnant with the couple's first son, Ronald, who was born in Milan, on 6 April 2000.[237] The marriage lasted four years. In 2005, Ronaldo became engaged to Brazilian model and MTV VJ Daniella Cicarelli, who became pregnant but suffered a miscarriage; the relationship lasted only three months after their luxurious wedding at the Château de Chantilly. The ceremony reportedly cost £700,000 (€896,000).[238]
Despite his fame – a 2003 poll by Nike listed him the world's most famous sportsperson (and third most famous person overall) – Ronaldo is protective of his privacy, including with teammates, stating in an interview with The Telegraph, "each [player] has his own private life, and no one thinks about anyone else's private life. Or talks about it."[71] By 2003 he was fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, and had a good understanding of English.[71]
In a 2005 interview with
In April 2008, Ronaldo was involved in a scandal involving three travesti prostitutes whom he met in a nightclub in Rio de Janeiro.[243] Ronaldo claimed that upon discovering that they were legally male, he offered them $600 to leave.[244] One of the three attempted to blackmail Ronaldo, while the other two admitted to lying about having sex with him.[245] Ronaldo's engagement to Maria Beatriz Antony was immediately halted,[246] but resumed shortly after and they married in the same year. Maria Beatriz Antony gave birth to their first daughter, named Maria Sophia, in Rio de Janeiro, on 24 December 2008. In April 2009, the family moved to a new penthouse in São Paulo.[247] On 6 April 2010, Maria Beatriz Antony gave birth to their second daughter. The girl, born in São Paulo, was named Maria Alice, and was born exactly 10 years after her older brother Ronald.[248]
In December 2010, Ronaldo and his family moved to a new mansion in São Paulo.[249] Also in December, Ronaldo took a paternity test and was confirmed to be the father of a boy named Alexander, born in April 2005. The boy was born after a brief relationship between Ronaldo and Michele Umezu, a Brazilian waitress who Ronaldo first met in Tokyo in 2002.[250][251] After the confirmation of his fourth child, Ronaldo stated on 6 December 2010 that he had had a vasectomy, feeling that having four children was enough.[252] Ronaldo and Maria Beatriz Antony divorced in 2012.[253]
In a 2011 interview with the BBC, former Real Madrid teammate Steve McManaman spoke about Ronaldo's personality. "He could go in a restaurant, and I could go in with him, and you're not just there with close friends. He invites everybody. You'd be at a table with him and it'd be a judge sitting opposite talking to a politician with someone off the street listening in. So he just had this amazing aura, where everyone wanted to join him. Sometimes there'd be 20 to 30 people sitting at meal times with him. He was a wonderful person. Everybody would second that, no matter what club he played for."[254]
Ronaldo was the co-owner of A1 Team Brazil, along with former F1 driver Emerson Fittipaldi.[255] Ronaldo co-owns the sports marketing company 9INE, with his friend, mixed martial artist Anderson Silva, one of his clients.[256][257] A keen poker player, in April 2013 Ronaldo became a member of PokerStars SportStar, and in 2014 he played a charity poker tournament against tennis star Rafael Nadal.[258] On 11 December 2014, Ronaldo became a minority owner of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League.[259][260] In 2015, Ronaldo opened eight new branches of his youth football school – the Ronaldo Academy – in China, the U.S. and Brazil, with 100 expected to be opened worldwide by 2020.[261][262] In 2017, Ronaldo's son, Ronald, was selected for the junior football team representing Brazil in the 2017 Maccabiah Games.[263] The Maccabiah is described as "the Jewish Olympics"; Ronald is not Jewish, but some participating countries have more relaxed rules about eligibility and Ronald is a member of a Jewish football club.[263]
In January 2023, Ronaldo announced his fifth engagement, to model and businesswoman Celina Locks.[264][265] Ronaldo and Locks went on to marry in July of the same year.[266]
Religion
A practicing Catholic, Ronaldo was baptized into the faith in 2023.[267] He donated a signed football to Pope Francis in 2014, which is now housed in the Vatican Museums.[268]
Media
Ronaldo appeared in
Ronaldo has appeared in various commercials, from Snickers chocolate bar to Pirelli tyres.[273][274] Ronaldo's usual goal celebration of both arms outstretched – especially from his early career – was the basis for Pirelli's 1998 commercial where he replaced the figure of Christ from the Christ the Redeemer statue that towers over his home city of Rio de Janeiro while in an Inter Milan strip.[275] It was controversial with the Catholic Church.[274] Released in 2000 for the PlayStation and Game Boy Color, the video game Ronaldo V-Football was exclusively endorsed by Ronaldo.[276] In 2017 Ronaldo was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team in EA Sports' FIFA video game FIFA 18, receiving a 95 rating along with Brazilian compatriot Pelé, Argentine playmaker Diego Maradona, former Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin and former French star Thierry Henry.[277] Ronaldo also appears as the cover athlete on the Icon edition of the game.[278][279]
In May 2021, DAZN released the first of a six-part series titled Ronaldo: El Presidente. The series takes viewers inside the day-to-day running of Real Valladolid, revealing every challenge and triumph in Valladolid's first full season under their Brazilian president, intercut with parallel narratives detailing the highs and lows of Ronaldo's own playing career.[280]
Nike sponsorship
"Ronaldo is the most global of all athletes today, bar none."
—Joaquin Hidalgo, director of Nike's Brazilian marketing unit, 1998.[9]
Ronaldo has been sponsored by sportswear company Nike since the early part of his career. In 1996, Nike signed Ronaldo to a 10-year contract and to a lifetime endorsement deal worth over $180 million.[281] Nicknamed R9 (his initial and shirt number),[207] Ronaldo is closely associated with the original Nike Mercurial R9 that was designed for him for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.[282][283] To celebrate 15 years of the boot, Nike created a Mercurial Vapor IX inspired by the 1998 design, with Phil McCartney, VP of Football Footwear for Nike, stating; "Ronaldo's impact on the game 15 years ago was immense, and in the run up to 2014, we wanted to celebrate that boot and the man himself. We thought a modern construction of his 1998 boot would be a great commemoration of that moment."[282] In 2018, Ronaldo's R9 Mercurial boots inspired the Nike Mercurial Superfly VI boots commissioned for Kylian Mbappé.[284] Unveiled in 2000, a bronze statue of Ronaldo is located next to Ronaldo Field at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.[285]
Ronaldo has appeared in a series of Nike commercials. He starred in the 1996 Nike commercial titled "Good vs Evil" in a gladiatorial game set in a Roman amphitheatre. Appearing alongside football players from around the world, including Paolo Maldini, Eric Cantona, Luís Figo, Patrick Kluivert and Jorge Campos, they defend "the beautiful game" against a team of demonic warriors, destroying evil by winning the match.[286] In 1998, he featured in a Nike commercial set in an airport with a number of stars from the Brazil national team, including Romário and Roberto Carlos.[287] In the run-up to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, he starred in Nike's "Secret Tournament" commercial (branded "Scopion KO") directed by Terry Gilliam, appearing alongside football players such as Thierry Henry, Fabio Cannavaro, Francesco Totti, Ronaldinho and Hidetoshi Nakata, with former player Eric Cantona as the tournament "referee".[288][289] In the run-up to the 2014 World Cup, Ronaldo starred as a mentor in Nike's Risk Everything animated commercial with a host of current players in the Nike stable.[290]
Career statistics
Club
Club | Season | League | State league | National cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Cruzeiro | 1993 | Série A | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0 | — | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 20 | |
1994 | Série A | — | 18 | 22 | — | 8 | 2 | — | 26 | 24 | ||||
Total | 14 | 12 | 20 | 22 | — | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 47 | 44 | |||
PSV | 1994–95 | Eredivisie | 33 | 30 | — | 1 | 2 | 2[a] | 3 | — | 36 | 35 | ||
1995–96 | Eredivisie | 13 | 12 | — | 3 | 1 | 5[a] | 6 | — | 21 | 19 | |||
Total | 46 | 42 | — | 4 | 3 | 7 | 9 | — | 57 | 54 | ||||
Barcelona | 1996–97 | La Liga | 37 | 34 | — | 4 | 6 | 7[b] | 5 | 1[c] | 2 | 49 | 47 | |
Inter Milan | 1997–98 | Serie A | 32 | 25 | — | 4 | 3 | 11[a] | 6 | — | 47 | 34 | ||
1998–99 | Serie A | 19 | 14 | — | 2 | 0 | 6[d] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 15 | ||
1999–2000 | Serie A | 7 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | 8 | 3 | ||||
2000–01 | Serie A | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |||
2001–02 | Serie A | 10 | 7 | — | 1 | 0 | 5[a] | 0 | — | 16 | 7 | |||
Total | 68 | 49 | — | 8 | 3 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 99 | 59 | |||
Real Madrid | 2002–03 | La Liga | 31 | 23 | — | 1 | 0 | 11[d] | 6 | 1 | 1 | 44 | 30 | |
2003–04 | La Liga | 32 | 24 | — | 5 | 2 | 9[d] | 4 | 2 | 1 | 48 | 31 | ||
2004–05 | La Liga | 34 | 21 | — | 1 | 0 | 10[d] | 3 | — | 45 | 24 | |||
2005–06 | La Liga | 23 | 14 | — | 2 | 1 | 2[d] | 0 | — | 27 | 15 | |||
2006–07 | La Liga | 7 | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | 4[d] | 2 | — | 13 | 4 | |||
Total | 127 | 83 | — | 11 | 4 | 36 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 177 | 104 | |||
AC Milan
|
2006–07
|
Serie A | 14 | 7 | — | — | — | — | 14 | 7 | ||||
2007–08
|
Serie A | 6 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 6 | 2 | |||||
Total | 20 | 9 | — | — | — | — | 20 | 9 | ||||||
Corinthians | 2009 | Série A | 20 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 3 | — | — | 38 | 23 | ||
2010 | Série A | 11 | 6 | 9 | 3 | — | 7 | 3 | — | 27 | 12 | |||
2011 | Série A | — | 2 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | ||||
Total | 31 | 18 | 21 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 3 | — | 69 | 35 | |||
Career total | 343 | 247 | 41 | 33 | 35 | 19 | 93 | 49 | 6 | 4 | 518 | 352 |
- ^ UEFA Cup
- ^ Appearances in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
- ^ Appearance in Supercopa de España
- ^ a b c d e f Appearances in UEFA Champions League
International
Team | Year | Competitive | Friendly | Total | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Brazil[291] | 1994 | — | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | |
1995 | 1[a] | 0 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 3 | |
1996 | — | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | ||
1997 | 11[b] | 9 | 9 | 6 | 20 | 15 | |
1998 | 7[c] | 4 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 5 | |
1999 | 6[d] | 5 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 7 | |
2000 | — | — | — | ||||
2001 | — | — | — | ||||
2002 | 7[e] | 8 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 11 | |
2003 | 4[f] | 3 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 3 | |
2004 | 7[g] | 6 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 6 | |
2005 | 4[h] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | |
2006 | 5[i] | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 5 | |
2007 | — | — | — | ||||
2008 | — | — | — | ||||
2009 | — | — | — | ||||
2010 | — | — | — | ||||
2011 | — | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Total | 52 | 39 | 46 | 23 | 98 | 62 |
Notes
- ^ Appearance in the 1995 Copa América
- ^ Six appearances and five goals in the 1997 Copa América, five appearances and four goals in the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup
- ^ Appearances in the 1998 FIFA World Cup
- ^ Appearances in the 1999 Copa América
- ^ Appearances in the 2002 FIFA World Cup
- ^ Appearances in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
- ^ Appearances in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
- ^ Appearances in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
- ^ Appearances in the 2006 FIFA World Cup
- Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first.[195]
‡ | Goal scored by penalty |
---|
No. | Cap | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 4 May 1994 | Estádio da Ressacada, Florianópolis, Brazil | Iceland | 1–0 | 3–0 | Friendly | [292] |
2 | 8 | 11 June 1995 | Wembley Stadium, London, England | England | 2–1 | 3–1 | Friendly | [293] |
3 | 10 | 11 October 1995 | Estádio de Pituaçu, Salvador, Brazil | Uruguay | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly | [294] |
4 | 2–0 | |||||||
5 | 11 | 28 August 1996 | Central Dynamo Stadium, Moscow, Russia | Russia | 2–2‡ | 2–2 | Friendly | [295] |
6 | 13 | 16 October 1996 | Albertão, Teresina, Brazil | Lithuania | 1–0 | 3–1 | Friendly | [296] |
7 | 2–1 | |||||||
8 | 3–1 | |||||||
9 | 14 | 18 December 1996 | Vivaldão, Manaus, Brazil | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly | [297] |
10 | 15 | 26 February 1997 | Estádio Serra Dourada, Goiânia, Brazil | Poland | 3–0 | 4–2 | Friendly | [298] |
11 | 4–0 | |||||||
12 | 16 | 2 April 1997 | Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, Brasília, Brazil | Chile | 1–0 | 4–0 | Friendly | [299] |
13 | 3–0 | |||||||
14 | 20 | 8 June 1997 | Stade de Gerland, Lyon, France | Italy | 2–3 | 3–3 | Friendly | [300] |
15 | 22 | 13 June 1997 | Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera, Santa Cruz, Bolivia | Costa Rica | 3–0 | 5–0 | 1997 Copa América | [301] |
16 | 4–0 | |||||||
17 | 25 | 22 June 1997 | Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera, Santa Cruz, Bolivia | Paraguay | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1997 Copa América | [302] |
18 | 2–0 | |||||||
19 | 27 | 29 June 1997 | Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia | Bolivia | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1997 Copa América | [303] |
20 | 28 | 10 August 1997 | Seoul Olympic Stadium, Seoul, South Korea | South Korea | 1–1‡ | 2–1 | Friendly | [304] |
21 | 33 | 19 December 1997 | King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh , Saudi Arabia |
Czech Republic | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup | [305] |
22 | 34 | 21 December 1997 | King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Australia | 1–0 | 6–0 | 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup | [306] |
23 | 2–0 | |||||||
24 | 5–0 | |||||||
25 | 35 | 25 March 1998 | Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart, Germany | Germany | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly | [307] |
26 | 39 | 16 June 1998 | Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes, France | Morocco | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1998 FIFA World Cup | [308] |
27 | 41 | 27 June 1998 | Parc des Princes, Paris, France | Chile | 3–0‡ | 4–1 | 1998 FIFA World Cup | [309] |
28 | 4–1 | |||||||
29 | 43 | 7 July 1998 | Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France | Netherlands | 1–0 | 1–1 (4–2 p) |
1998 FIFA World Cup | [310] |
30 | 45 | 26 June 1999 | Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, Brazil | Latvia | 3–0 | 3–0 | Friendly | [311] |
31 | 46 | 30 June 1999 | Estadio Antonio Aranda, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay | Venezuela | 1–0 | 7–0 | 1999 Copa América | [312] |
32 | 4–0 | |||||||
33 | 48 | 6 July 1999 | Estadio Antonio Aranda, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay | Chile | 1–0‡ | 1–0 | 1999 Copa América | [313] |
34 | 49 | 11 July 1999 | Estadio Antonio Aranda, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay | Argentina | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1999 Copa América | [314] |
35 | 51 | 18 July 1999 | Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay | Uruguay | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1999 Copa América | [315] |
36 | 53 | 7 September 1999 | Estádio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre, Brazil | Argentina | 4–1 | 4–2 | Friendly | [316] |
37 | 57 | 25 May 2002 | Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Malaysia | 1–0 | 4–0 | Friendly | [317] |
38 | 58 | 3 June 2002 | Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium, Ulsan, South Korea | Turkey | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2002 FIFA World Cup | [318] |
39 | 59 | 8 June 2002 | Jeju World Cup Stadium, Seogwipo, South Korea | China | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup | [319] |
40 | 60 | 13 June 2002 | Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon, South Korea | Costa Rica | 1–0 | 5–2 | 2002 FIFA World Cup | [320] |
41 | 2–0 | |||||||
42 | 61 | 17 June 2002 | Noevir Stadium Kobe, Kobe, Japan | Belgium | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup | [321] |
43 | 63 | 26 June 2002 | Saitama , Japan |
Turkey | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup | [322] |
44 | 64 | 30 June 2002 | Nissan Stadium, Yokohama, Japan | Germany | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup | [323] |
45 | 2–0 | |||||||
46 | 66 | 20 November 2002 | Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea | South Korea | 1–1 | 3–2 | Friendly | [324] |
47 | 2–2 | |||||||
48 | 70 | 7 September 2003 | Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, Barranquilla, Colombia | Colombia | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | [325] |
49 | 74 | 18 November 2003 | Pinheirão, Curitiba, Brazil | Uruguay | 2–1 | 3–3 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | [326] |
50 | 3–3 | |||||||
51 | 78 | 2 June 2004 | Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil | Argentina | 1–0‡ | 3–1 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | [327] |
52 | 2–0‡ | |||||||
53 | 3–1‡ | |||||||
54 | 81 | 5 September 2004 | Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil | Bolivia | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | [328] |
55 | 83 | 9 October 2004 | Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo, Venezuela | Venezuela | 3–0 | 5–2 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | [329] |
56 | 4–0 | |||||||
57 | 90 | 12 October 2005 | Estádio Olímpico do Pará, Pará , Brazil
|
Venezuela | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | [330] |
58 | 91 | 1 March 2006 | RZD Arena, Moscow , Russia |
Russia | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly | [331] |
59 | 92 | 4 June 2006 | Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland | New Zealand | 1–0 | 4–0 | Friendly | [332] |
60 | 95 | 22 June 2006 | Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany | Japan | 1–1 | 4–1 | 2006 FIFA World Cup | [333] |
61 | 4–1 | |||||||
62 | 96 | 27 June 2006 | Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany | Ghana | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup | [334] |
Honours
Cruzeiro
PSV Eindhoven
Barcelona
Inter Milan
- Coppa Italia runner-up: 1999–2000[339]
Real Madrid
Corinthians
Brazil
- FIFA World Cup: 1994, 2002; runner-up: 1998[68]
- Copa América: 1997, 1999; runner-up: 1995[68]
- FIFA Confederations Cup: 1997[68]
- Summer Olympic Games bronze medal: 1996[68]
Individual
- Supercopa Libertadores top scorer: 1993–94[343]
- Supercopa Libertadores Team of the Year: 1993–94[343]
- Campeonato Mineiro top scorer: 1993–94[343]
- Campeonato Mineiro Team of the Year: 1994[343]
- Eredivisie top scorer: 1994–95[27]
- FIFA World Player of the Year: 1996, 1997, 2002[68][344]
- Trofeo EFE La Liga Ibero-American Player of the Year: 1996–97, 2002–03[345]
- Pichichi Trophy: 1996–97, 2003–04[31]
- European Golden Shoe: 1996–97[346]
- World Player of the Year (3): 1996, 1997, 2002[347]
- Don Balón Award La Liga Foreign Player of the Year: 1996–97[348]
- Copa América Final Most Valuable Player: 1997[343]
- Copa América Most Valuable Player: 1997[137]
- FIFA Confederations Cup Bronze Boot: 1997[349]
- FIFA Confederations Cup All-Star Team: 1997
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final Most Valuable Player: 1997
- Copa América All-Star Team: 1997, 1999[343]
- IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer of the Year: 1997[350]
- Bravo Award: 1997, 1998[351]
- Onze d'Or: 1997, 2002[352]
- Ballon d'Or: 1997, 2002;[353] runner-up: 1996[354]
- European Sports Media ESM Team of the Year: 1996–97, 1997–98[355]
- FIFA XI: 1997, 1998[356]
- Serie A Footballer of the Year: 1998[45]
- Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year: 1998[357]
- UEFA Cup Final Most Valuable Player: 1998[358]
- UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 1997–98[359]
- UEFA Club Best Forward: 1997–98[359]
- FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1998, 2002[160]
- FIFA World Cup top assist provider: 1998[361]
- Inter Milan Player of the Year: 1998[362]
- FIFA World Cup Final Most Valuable Player: 2002[364]
- Intercontinental Cup Most Valuable Player: 2002[365]
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2002[366]
- BBC World Sport Star of the Year: 2002[367]
- Laureus World Sports Awards Comeback of the Year: 2003[168]
- Best Male Soccer Player ESPY Award: 2003[368]
- FIFA 100 (2004)[369]
- Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame: 2006[371]
- Golden Foot award: 2006[372]
- France Football magazine's all-time starting XI: 2007[343]
- Association of Football Statisticians (AFS) Top-100 Players of All Time: 2007. #2[373]
- Sports Illustrated Team of the Decade: 2009[374]
- Real Madrid Hall of Fame[375]
- Marca Leyenda: 2011[376]
- L'Équipe's top 50 South-American footballers in history: #5[377]
- Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2015[378]
- International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) Legends[379]
- Inter Milan Hall of Fame: 2018[380]
- Globe Soccer Awards Player Career Award: 2018[381]
- Ballon d'Or Dream Team: 2020[382]
- IFFHS All-time Men's B Dream Team: 2021[383]
See also
- List of most expensive association football transfers
- List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals
References
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