Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima · Brazil
Photo : CC BY-SA 4.0 — Lula Oficial (Wikimedia Commons)
Between 1996 and 1998 Ronaldo was, by a distance, the best footballer alive. He scored 47 goals in 49 games for Barcelona in a single season, moved to Inter and won the Ballon d’Or at twenty-one, and combined a sprinter’s pace with the close control of a player who did not need any.
Then his knees went. Two ruptures of the same tendon, the second live on television in 2000, cost him almost three years and the explosive first step that had defined him. He came back in a different body and scored eight goals at the 2002 World Cup, including both in the final, which remains the most improbable comeback in the sport.
He finished with 62 goals in 98 games for Brazil and two Ballons d’Or. The counterfactual — what he would have been with intact knees — is the reason he is still argued about rather than settled.
Club career
| Years | Club | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993–1994 | Cruzeiro | 34 | 34 |
| 1994–1996 | PSV | 46 | 42 |
| 1996–1997 | Barcelona | 37 | 34 |
| 1997–2002 | Inter Milan | 68 | 49 |
| 2002–2007 | Real Madrid | 127 | 83 |
| 2007–2008 | AC Milan | 20 | 9 |
| 2009–2011 | Corinthians | 52 | 29 |
| Total | 384 | 280 |
International career
| Years | Team | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Brazil U17 | 7 | 5 |
| 1996 | Brazil U23 | 8 | 6 |
| 1994–2011 | Brazil | 98 | 62 |
Honours
Dashed = runner-up.
Related legends
Career figures compiled from public records. Competitive senior appearances only.