Soccer:Former Brazil striker and three-time Fifa World Player of the Year Ronaldo confirmed his retirement today, ending one of the most successful careers in soccer.
The 34-year-old, twice a World Cup winner with Brazil, said injuries and fitness problems prevented him from playing to his best form. He enjoyed a glittering club career in Spain, Holland, Italy and Brazil.
“As you can imagine and you heard during the whole weekend, I’m here today to (confirm that) I’m closing my career as a professional player,” said Ronaldo from his Brazilian homeland.
In an earlier interview with Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, Ronaldo revealed that his long career and succession of serious injuries had finally taken their toll on his body.
“I want to stay but I can’t. I think of a move, but I can’t perform it as I want to. It’s time. My body aches. The head wants to continue, but the body can’t take much more.”
He first moved to Europe in 1994 when he joined PSV Eindhoven from Cruzeiro. A prolific scorer in the Eredivisie, he joined Barcelona despite knee problems which blighted him in his second season in Holland, going on to achieve record-breaking success in Spain.
He spent just a year at Barca, scoring 47 goals in 49 games and becoming the youngest player ever to win the Fifa World Player of the Year award, before contract wrangles saw him join Inter Milan for a then world-record fee of €23 million.
Ronaldo’s success continued at Inter, then Barca’s great rivals Real Madrid, though injury problems hindered his time in Italy. He joined AC Milan in 2007 but after suffering a third serious knee injury he returned to Brazil in 2009.
He will perhaps be best remembered for his international exploits, having scored a record 15 World Cup goals. He scored eight in the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea alone, including both goals in the 2-0 final victory over Germany.
He was the first player to win the World Player of the Year award three times.
Some defining moments from Ronaldo’s career
1994, Bayer Leverkusen v PSV EINDHOVEN
The match that announced to the whole of Europe that a skinny 17-year-old Brazilian called Ronaldo was a player to be feared. Ronaldo joined PSV after the 1994 World Cup, where he was a non-playing squad member. Against Leverkusen he kept his side in the tie single-handedly. He scored the penalty to level at 1-1, lashed in a 20-yard screamer when his side were 4-1 down, then tapped in from close range to complete his hat-trick. PSV lost the match and the tie 5-4, but Ronaldo, who also displayed virtuoso skill throughout and could have scored more, had arrived.
1996, Compostela v BARCELONA
Perhaps the definitive Ronaldo goal. Near the start of his only season at Barca, Ronaldo proved his class by winning the ball in his own half, twisting and turning past three Compostela defenders on a run into the opposition penalty area, then sliding the ball into the corner. To this day it is widely considered his finest strike.
2002, Germany v BRAZIL
Having opened the scoring in the World Cup final with a classic poacher’s goal, Ronaldo sealed the victory with a sweet second. Kleberson advanced down the right, before sending in a low cross which Rivaldo stepped over. Ronaldo accepted the ball, turned into the box and slotted the ball past Oliver Kahn. Ronaldo was top scorer at the tournament with eight.
2003, Manchester United v REAL MADRID
For English fans, one Ronaldo moment stands out above all others: his hat-trick at Old Trafford. United actually won their Champions League quarter-final 4-3 but Ronaldo’s goals ensured the Spaniards went through on aggregate. Perhaps the pick was his third, which saw him collect the ball just inside the United half, advance on the retreating defence and lash the ball past Fabien Barthez from 25 yards. The Brazilian was clapped off the field by the United fans.
2006, BRAZIL v Ghana
The 2006 tournament could have been a disaster for Ronaldo. He was constantly jeered for being overweight and failed to make an impact in his first two games. But he scored two against Japan, before a trademark goal — taking the ball past the goalkeeper when through one on one — took him to 15 World Cup goals, surpassing Gerd Muller’s record of 14. Brazil crashed out to France in the quarter-finals, preventing Ronaldo from stretching his record further.
