Legends in Football : R9 Name at birth: Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima Born: 22 September 1976 Birthplace: Bento Ribeiro, Brazil The Brazilian soccer star has won FIFAs Player of the Year 3 Times Ronaldo began his football career playing futsal for various small clubs around Rio.At the age of 14 he made it into the Social Ramos Youth Club team.After performing well for a year, he was taken into Sao Cristovao, where he finally caught the attention of influential soccer figures,Jairzinho recommended him to the soccer club, Cruzeiro, where he played for a year, scoring 12 goals in 14 appearances.In 1994, he was transferred to PSV Eindhoven for a fee of 6 million US dollars.where he scored 42 goals in 46 appearances During the 1994 world cup(at age 17), his jersey had the name Ronaldinho because there was already another Ronaldo playing for the team. However, this Ronaldo soon proved himself to be the better player and wore the Ronaldo jersey in the next World Cup (he was also joined by the now world famous Ronaldinho).In 1995 he became Eredivisie top scorer and followed that by winning the Dutch Cup in 1996. He quickly caught the eye of FC Barcelona manager Sir Bobby Robson. Ronaldos one season with Barcelona turned into one of the best of his career which won him the FIFA player of the year award in 1996.He scored 47 goals in 49 appearances that season.As soon as the season was over, he was on his way to soccer club Internazionale Milano.In 1997 he assisted Inter in winning the EUFA cup He even scored the third goal for the team in the final.His goal scoring kept an excellent pace, and he soon earned the nickname, Fenômeno (The Phenomenon).He was again voted World Player of the Year in 1997.By the start of the next season, he was captain of the team. He had also finished with the best goal-per-game average in Serie A history, scoring 49 times in 68 appearances. To be continued .....
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:11:12 +0000