Biography – Ronaldinho

By Mubeen Musthakeem

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, better known as Ronaldinho, was born on the 21st of March 1980 in Porto Alegre in Brazil. His mother was a saleswoman who later went on to become a nurse. His father worked at a dockyard and played football for a local club. His dad suffered a fatal heart attack when Ronaldinho was only eight and after his older brother Roberto joined Gremio, the family moved to a much wealthy part of the town. Ronaldinho was a very skilled at his tender ages and he was interested in beach football but later turned to professional football. He first came into the media when he had scored all 23 goals in the 23-0 win against a local club at the age of 13. He represented his country in the 1997 U-17 World Cup and became a rising star.
Ronaldinho started his professional football career with Gremio and he moved to the French club Paris Saint-Germain in 2001. He did not have a very successful time at France and in 2003 he joined Barcelona. He won the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2004 and also in 2005. Ronaldinho had an excellent time at Barcelona and won plenty of other awards. The Brazilian acquired some injuries and the 2007-08 season did not go well for him and it was time for him to turn his head to another club. He got a really good offer from Manchester City but he turned it down to join the Italian giants AC Milan in 2008. He finished the season with 32 appearances at 10 goals for the club.