Ronaldo
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Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁoˈnaɫdu luˈiz naˈzaɾiu dʒi ˈlimɐ]; born 22 September 1976), commonly known as Ronaldo, is a Brazilian footballer who currently plays for Corinthians. Ronaldo was one of the most prolific scorers in the world in the 1990s and the early 2000s. He won his first Ballon d'Or as the European Footballer of the Year in 1997 and again won the award in 2002. Additionally, he is one of only two men to have won the FIFA Player of the Year award three times, along with French footballer Zinedine Zidane. In 2007, he was named as one of the best starting eleven of all-time by France Football and was named to the FIFA 100, a list of the greatest footballers compiled by fellow countryman Pelé. In 2010, he was voted Goal.com's 'Player of the Decade' in an online poll, gathering 43.63% of all votes and was also included as Centre Forward in the 'Team of the Decade'. On February 23, 2010, Ronaldo announced that he will retire after the 2011 season, signing a two-year contract extension with the
Corinthians at the same time. Ronaldo has played for Brazil in 97 international matches, amassing 62 goals. He was a part of the Brazilian squad that won the 1994, and 2002 World Cups. During the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldo became the highest goalscorer in the history of the World Cup with his fifteenth goal, surpassing Gerd Müller's previous record of 14. In 1993, Ronaldo began his football career playing for Cruzeiro which was already going on to become a successful club. In his first and only year with Cruzeiro, he amassed 12 goals in 14 appearances and lead them to their first Copa do Brasil championship. After he was scouted by famous Dutch scout Piet de Visser, he was soon transferred for US$6 million to PSV in 1994, where he scored 42 goals in 46 league games and reached a total of 54 goals in 57 official appearances. With PSV, Ronaldo won the Dutch Cup in 1996 and was Eredivisie top scorer in 1995 Later, he attracted the attention of Barcelona through the interest of Sir Bobby Robson, the manager at the time. He played for Barça in the 1996-97 season, scoring an incredible 47 goals in 49 games (in all competitions) on the way to leading the Catalan side to UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph (where he capped the season with the winning goal in the cup final itself) and to Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España wins. He also won La Liga top scorer award in 1997 with 34
Career
Club career