Poll five different Ronaldinho fans about his greatest accomplishment and you’ll get five different answers. He’s one of the soccer giants who has conquered every aspect of the game, from club achievements to national glory. GOAT status is rarefied, sacred air, but Ronaldinho is among its residents; he is one of the greatest soccer players of all time.
Talent alone isn’t what makes him so special, though. There’s a reason why, during his playing days, his nickname was “O Bruxo” — “The Wizard.” He did things that were supernatural, that confirmed alien existence on Earth; there was simply no way some of his maneuvers could be coming from a regular human being. Who could forget his goal for FC Barcelona in 2006 versus Villarreal? The way he trapped the ball on his chest, spun around and fired a bicycle kick over his shoulder. It’s one of the greatest goals ever scored. And yet, there was also a realism to his game. There was a passion and grit; it was easy to see the way he cared, sweat dripping after exhausting matches. Ronaldinho made it look easy. But like all good students, he managed to show his work. He aced each test, but double-checked his answers before turning in the assignments. He never disappointed on the biggest stages. He scored during the 2002 World Cup and was the leader of the ’06 Barcelona team that won the Champions League final. He was flashy and confident, yes, because he was that good. It was an earned self-belief.
More than two decades removed from the peak of his powers, it might be easy to overlook the impact Ronaldinho had on soccer across the world. Some of us, though, remember it like it was yesterday.
Playing for Joy
Ronaldinho was born in March of 1980 in the Brazilian port city of Porto Alegre, the state capital of Rio Grande do Sul. He was the son of a saleswoman and a shipyard worker, and the younger brother of a professional soccer player. It was this older brother, Roberto, who would become most influential to his career, especially after Ronaldinho’s father died tragically of a heart attack when the future superstar was only eight years old.
It was soccer lessons he learned from his father and the intense nonstop drills his brother subjected him to that he would carry throughout his career, experiences that would help inform his free, joyous style of play. No one exemplified the Portuguese phrase “Joga Bonito,” or “play beautifully,” like he did. He would smile after pulling off ridiculous moves, seemingly overjoyed that he could translate ideas to the pitch. It was like he was getting away with something.
This pure love of the game led to one of the most decorated careers in the sport, one with more than a few high points: “Everything was special, from my first game to my last. Even in the youth academy, I had the joy of winning trophies with Brazil, so it’s very hard to single out just one moment,” Ronaldinho explained to PLAYERS. “I’m very proud and very happy with everything that football has given me. I can only be grateful for everything.”
Remembered With Love
His skills as a player are so celebrated because they made an impact on aspiring athletes everywhere — he was cited as a source of inspiration for future wizards of the game like Lionel Messi and Neymar. Said Messi in Ronaldinho: The One and Only, “He was probably more important to me than I was to him.”
The gratefulness goes both ways. “People always say to me that they were very happy watching me play, and I was very happy playing,” says Ronaldinho. “So, I want to be remembered for that, for the joy of playing and for being a completely fulfilled person doing what I love.”
Today, he remains the only player in the history of the sport to have won a World Cup, a Champions League, a Ballon d’Or, a Copa América, a Confederations Cup and a Copa Libertadores. On top of that? He earned two FIFA World Player of the Year awards. Alongside Ronaldo and Rivaldo, he helped Brazil win the 2002 World Cup, leading one of the most exciting teams in the event’s history. He became one of the greatest practitioners of a Brazilian style of dribbling, the Samba, named for the way its players look like they’re dancing across the pitch.
The accolades are phenomenal. They also help explain Ronaldinho’s magic. But words on a page, even trophies in a case, are incomparable to the joy of watching him on the pitch. Look at old clips and you’ll see that the only people having more fun than Ronaldinho on a soccer field are the people in the stands watching him. Remember the 2002 World Cup, when he nailed a free kick from more than 30 yards away against England in the quarterfinals? His first goal with Barcelona, when he dribbled around several Sevilla players and launched an absolute cannon into the corner of the net? Who could forget.
Ecstatic Wins
The only thing better than the goals were his celebrations. “I loved it when we played and he ran around with his hair all over the place, dribbling at speed. And when he wanted to, he made opponents look like children around him,” said Zlatan Ibrahimovic back in 2016. Ronaldinho and Ibrahimovic were teammates during the latter part of the Brazilian’s career, after revitalizing Barcelona and restoring the club to glory. They played together for AC Milan, during which Ronaldinho’s passion began to wane, but the fluidity and flashes of brilliance served as a reminder of his prime.
Ronaldinho has said that playing with joy was paramount to him –– something that couldn’t be taught, couldn’t be turned into strategy. During our conversation, he spoke about the lasting memories of his 2002 World Cup experience, though the perspective could just as easily be applied to the duration of his career: “Every moment was special,” he explained. “That’s what made us so strong and helped us to succeed.”
