Ronaldinho
From Freepedia
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born March 21, 1980 in Porto Alegre, Brazil), better known as Ronaldinho (Little Ronaldo) or Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is regarded as one of the world's top football players.
He started playing football at a young age, playing futsal in Brazil. Making a name for himself as the top scorer at the under-17 world championship in Egypt, Ronaldinho began his professional career at Grêmio, and played there from 1998-2001. In his Brazilian national team debut on June 26, 1999, he scored his first international goal, against Venezuela, to win the Copa América. To date, he has won 34 caps for Brazil, scoring 13 goals.
In 2001, Ronaldinho signed a five-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain. The manager of PSG thought that Ronaldinho was too focused on the Paris nightlife rather than on his football. He started playing at the beginning of the 01/02 season due to a protracted legal battle between PSG and Grêmio over the transfer fee. Grêmio finally received $4.5 million.
In 2002, Ronaldinho helped Brazil win the World Cup. One of the highlights of the tournament was a spectacular 35-metre lob he scored against England in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
In 2003, Ronaldinho made it known he wanted to leave PSG after they failed to qualify for European cups. That set off a bidding war among the elite clubs for his services. On July 19, FC Barcelona snapped him up for 27 million Euro, 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, Henrik Larsson and Ludovic Giuly, he comprises part of an awesome strike force which has led Barça to the 04/05 La Liga title.
On December 20, 2004, Ronaldinho was named FIFA World Player of the Year over Arsenal's Thierry Henry and AC Milan's Andriy Shevchenko. On June 29, 2005, Ronaldinho played a pivotal role as the captain of the Brazilian squad which won its second FIFA Confederations Cup title, in a 4-1 victory over Argentina. Pelé named Ronaldinho in his 125 Top Living Footballers in March 2004. In 2005 Ronaldinho won the award of best Striker in the UEFA Champions League tournament of 2004/2005.
| Preceded by: Zinedine Zidane | FIFA World Player of the Year 2004 | Succeeded by: current holder |
| Preceded by: none | FIFPro World Player of the Year 2005 | Succeeded by: current holder |
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Categories: 1980 births | Brazilian footballers | Football (soccer) strikers | FIFA World Players of the Year | FIFA 100 | FC Barcelona footballers
