About Ronaldo Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima (Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ; born 18 September 1976), more commonly known as Ronaldo, is a Brazilian professional footballer currently playing for Campeonato Brasileiro club Corinthians.In 1993, Ronaldo began his professional 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 Cruzeiro, he signed with Dutch football team PSV in 1994. In 1996, his final year with PSV, Ronaldo helped them win the Dutch Cup. Ronaldo has also played for Barcelona, Internazionale, Real Madrid and Milan. He is only of four players to have played for 5 of the so called G14 Clubs. Ronaldo is also an established national footballer for Brazil. He has appeared in 97 international matches, amassing 62 goals and standing 15 goals away from the Brazilian national scoring record. 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. Nicknamed O Fenômeno ("The Phenomenon" in English), Ronaldo was also one of the most prolific scorers in the nineties and in the early twenty-first century. Much like the number 10 has become synonymous with a trequartista particularly Diego Maradona and the number 3 with a defender due to Paolo Maldini, Ronaldo made the number 9 famous and made it synonymous with the position of center forward. During his football career in Europe, Ronaldo became one of the most renowned strikers in the world by winning his first Ballon d'Or as the European Footballer of the Year in 1997 and again in 2002. He is also one of only two men to have won the FIFA Player of the Year award three times, along with French footballer Zinédine 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. He is considered by many football fans and players to be the greatest striker in the history of football, especially noted for the 96/97 season with FC Barcelona, considered by many to be the greatest display ever by a footballer in a season. His clinical finishing, ability to beat defenders with ease, skills on the ball and his many comebacks from injury have seen him lauded by football fans worldwide. He is an idol to many modern footballers such as Karim Benzema, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fernando Torres, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká. Ronaldo was also one of the first major football superstars to popularize Futsal and Street Football skills on the pitch, becoming associated with the stepover. He is also credited with igniting a stronger marketing interest in football worldwide, particularly due to his rapport with Nike who had previously focused mainly on Basketball.