Ronaldo de Assis Moreira · Brazil
Photo : CC BY 2.0 — Marcos Corrêa/PR (Wikimedia Commons)
Ronaldinho won the Ballon d’Or in 2005 and the Champions League with Barcelona in 2006, and for roughly four years he was the most entertaining player in the world by a margin that made the question uninteresting. Real Madrid’s crowd applauded him off the pitch at the Bernabéu in 2005, which had happened twice before in the club’s history.
He arrived at a Barcelona that had not won the league in six years and left it as European champions with Messi in the first team. The 2002 World Cup free-kick that looped over David Seaman from forty yards is still argued over — shot or cross — and he never fully settled the question himself.
The decline was early and unmistakable. He was gone from Barcelona by twenty-eight and from Europe by thirty-two, drifting through Milan, Flamengo, Atlético Mineiro and Querétaro. In 2026 he signed for Ravenna in Serie C, more than a decade after anyone expected to see him in a professional squad again.
Club career
| Years | Club | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998–2001 | Grêmio | 89 | 47 |
| 2001–2003 | Paris Saint-Germain | 55 | 17 |
| 2003–2008 | Barcelona | 145 | 70 |
| 2008–2011 | AC Milan | 76 | 20 |
| 2011–2012 | Flamengo | 56 | 23 |
| 2012–2014 | Atlético Mineiro | 58 | 20 |
| 2014–2015 | Querétaro | 25 | 8 |
| 2015 | Fluminense | 7 | |
| 2026– | Ravenna | ||
| Total | 511 | 205 |
International career
| Years | Team | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Brazil U17 | 13 | 3 |
| 1998–1999 | Brazil U20 | 17 | 8 |
| 1999–2000 | Brazil U23 | 19 | 15 |
| 2008 | Brazil Olympic | 8 | 3 |
| 1999–2013 | Brazil | 97 | 33 |
Honours
Dashed = runner-up.
Related legends
Career figures compiled from public records. Competitive senior appearances only.