His soccer mentor was Jairzinho, World Champion in 1970 with the Brazilian national team.
• Ronaldo started his football career at Sao Cristovao, a small club in the Rio region.
• Since childhood, he was a fan of Flamengo. As a young man, he did the tests to defend the colors of the "Mengao", but it was very expensive to be transported to the other side of the city to attend training.
• After his unsuccessful attempt to play in Flamengo, he ended up doing it for Cruzeiro in Belo Horizonte, where he made his professional debut at the age of 17.
• His good performance with Cruzeiro earned him a call from Carlos Alberto Parreira, Brazil coach, for the USA 94 World Cup.
• In the United States 94, Il Fenómeno, dressed the 20 and was known as Ronaldinho, because in that selection of Brazil there was already a Ronaldo (Ronaldo Rodrigues), better known as Ronaldao.
• Ronaldo may have played in the World Cup final against Italy, but it is believed that Parreira did not want to give him minutes because he could have broken Pele's record of being the youngest player in Brazilian soccer history to play a Copa World.
• After the game against Italy, in the final of the 94 World Cup, Ronaldo exchanged his shirt with Pierluigi Casiraghi, which is why he is remembered celebrating the sixth title of Brazil with the jersey azzurra number 18.
• The "Mercurial" sports line of the American brand Nike was inspired by Ronaldo. Later, Nike, would launch to the market a line of exclusive footwear of Ronaldo called "R9".
• Ronie suffered serious career injuries. The patellar tendon was torn from both knees; Right on couple of occasions.
• During the 98 World Cup, R9 was one of the best players in the tournament. One day before the final, he suffered an epilepsy attack at the hotel. However he was able to recover to play the game the other day, although Brazil ended up falling 3-0 before the host, France.
• At the 2002 World Cup in the last few games looked a bit extravagant. He then explained that the reason for such a peculiar haircut was so that his son could recognize him when watching the game on TV and not confuse him with his teammate Roberto Carlos.
• Ronaldo is UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Every year he organizes with Zinedine Zidane a party called "Friends of Zidane vs. Friends of Ronaldo", in which the proceeds go to charitable causes in the African continent.
• Among his achievements are 2 World Cups, 2 America Cups, 1 Confederations Cup, 1 UEFA Cup among other titles achieved in Brazil and Europe.
• His pending task was that although he played in big clubs like Real Madrid, Milan and Barcelona, he never won the top club competition: the Champions League of Europe.
• At individual level he has won numerous awards: Golden Ball (2 times), FIFA World Player (3 times), Gold Boot (both in Europe and World Cup), among others.
• Ronaldo is included in Pele's list of "Top 100 Players of History".
• On June 27, 2006, during the World Cup in Germany, Ronaldo scored his 15th World Cup goal and became the World's Top Scorer, beating Gerd Muller, Just Fontaine and his compatriot Pele.
• Culminated his career defending the colors of Corinthians of Brazil. On February 14 of this year, in tears, he decided to hang up his boots, ending a career full of successes and victories.
• His last match with the Canarinha was a friendly against Romania, at Pacaembú Stadium, on June 7 of this year. Brazil won 1-0.
G.O.A.T
old but gold nice @futbolcrack