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Ronaldinho - Biography

Ronaldinho - Biography: Encyclopedia II - Ronaldinho - Biography

As a child, Ronaldinho played both futsal and beach football. He made his first newspaper appearance at 13, after scoring 23 goals in a football match.[1] He made a name for himself as the top scorer at the under-17 world championship in Egypt, then began his professional career at Grêmio, where he played from 1998 to 2001. He made his first appearance for the Brazilian national team on June 26, 1999, scoring against Venezuela to help the team win the C ...

Ronaldinho: Encyclopedia II - Ronaldinho - Biography

Ronaldinho - Biography

As a child, Ronaldinho played both futsal and beach football. He made his first newspaper appearance at 13, after scoring 23 goals in a football match.^[1] He made a name for himself as the top scorer at the under-17 world championship in Egypt, then began his professional career at Grêmio, where he played from 1998 to 2001. He made his first appearance for the Brazilian national team on June 26, 1999, scoring against Venezuela to help the team win the Copa América. He scored 27 goals in his first 62 matches for Brazil.During his time at Gremio many clubs were rumoured to be vying for his signature including Leeds.

In 2001, Ronaldinho signed a five-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and started playing at the beginning of the season. However, even though Ronaldinho had been a free agent from July 1, 2001, Grêmio demanded compensation from PSG and received $4.5 million. During his time at PSG, the manager, Luis Fernandez, claimed that Ronaldinho was too focused on the Parisian nightlife rather than on his football.

In 2002, Ronaldinho helped Brazil win the World Cup. One of the highlights of the tournament was a outrageous (if fortunate) 35-metre lob he scored against England in the quarter-finals in Shizuoka, although he was sent off soon after a harsh foul on Danny Mills.

In 2003, Ronaldinho made it known he wanted to leave PSG after they failed to qualify for any European competitions. That set off a bidding war among the top clubs for his services. On July 19, FC Barcelona snapped him up for €27 million, beating Manchester United to his signature. Ronaldinho justified their purchase, leading them to a second-place finish in La Liga during the 03/04 season. Together with Samuel Eto'o, Deco, Ludovic Giuly, and Henrik Larsson, he comprises part of an awesome strike force which reaped the 2004/05 La Liga title for FC Barcelona

On December 20, 2004, Ronaldinho was named FIFA World Player of the Year ahead of Arsenal's Thierry Henry and AC Milan's Andriy Shevchenko. On June 29, 2005, he played a pivotal role as the captain of the Brazilian squad which won its second FIFA Confederations Cup title, where he was named Man of the Match in a 4–1 victory over Argentina in the final. Pelé named Ronaldinho in his 125 Top Living Footballers in March 2004. In 2005 Ronaldinho was named as both the European Footballer of the Year and the best striker in the UEFA Champions League tournament of 2004/2005. Ronaldinho is the third Brazilian to win the European Footballer of the Year Award^[2]. On December 19, 2005, he was again named FIFA World Player of the Year ahead of Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Barça teammate Samuel Eto'o with 910 votes.

On November 19, 2005, he scored two amazing goals to help FC Barcelona to a 0–3 win over arch-rivals Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. After he scored his second goal of the night, his team's third, a large part of the Madrid faithfuls gave him a standing ovation, a rare feat which occurred last when Diego Maradona was in Barcelona.

On December 2005, he and Mauricio de Sousa, a famous Brazilian comic books author, anounced the creation of a comic character of Ronaldinho and some of his relatives, as his brother and his mother. He has a son named Joao, who was born in February 2005.

He was then again in December voted FIFA World Player of the Year by a large margin, beating Chelsea F.C's Frank Lampard and strike partner Samuel Eto'o.