The tearful Corinthians forward announced his decision at an emotional press conference in Sao Paulo, during which he also revealed that he suffered from a thyroid problem.
“I’m stopping my career as a professional footballer,” he said, his voice breaking. “It’s been a beautiful, emotional, marvellous career. These last two years, I’ve had a long series of injuries, from one side to the other, one leg to the other, one muscle to the other.
“The pain pushed me to think about the end of my career.”
Ronaldo will go down in history as one of the most prolific and devastatingly skilful strikers ever to have played the game.
He scored with astonishing regularity for some of Europe’s most glamorous clubs but it is for his exploits at the World Cup that he will perhaps be remembered most fondly.
From the breakthrough of 1994 to the broken records of 2006 via the despair of 1998 and the redemption of 2002, the dazzlingly gifted forward experienced the full spectrum of emotions at the sport’s showpiece event.
A precocious goalscorer with Brazilian side Cruzeiro, Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima was invited to the 1994 World Cup at the tender age of 17 as a non-playing member of the Brazil squad. He cheered from the sidelines as a team fired by the goals of Romario and Bebeto ended Brazil’s 24-year wait for the trophy, before moving to Europe with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.
His phenomenal goalscoring record in Holland, where he netted 54 goals in 57 games, alerted Barcelona, and he scored 47 goals in 49 matches in his only season at Camp Nou as the Catalans romped to the Cup Winners’ Cup.
Elected Fifa World Player of the Year in 1996, he was on the move once more a year later when Inter Milan brought him to Italy for a world record fee.
Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or and was named World Player of the Year again in 1997, before arriving at the 1998 World Cup in France as the most complete striker on the planet.
Clad in silver boots and terrifying defenders at every turn, Ronaldo scored four goals for the defending champions as they set up a meeting with the hosts in the final.
The stage was set for Ronaldo, the pre-eminent player of his generation, to etch his name into World Cup folklore but on the eve of the game he suffered a mysterious fit and was taken out of the team.
The star World Cup winner bowed out of international football with 62 goals in 97 games.
Ronaldo’s factfile
Place of birth: Rio de Janeiro
Position: Striker
Club career: Cruzeiro, PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Corinthians
International appearances: 97
International goals: 62
World Cup: 1994, 2002; 19 matches, 15 goals
UEFA Cup: 1998
Intercontinental Cup: 2002
Brazilian Cup: 1993, 2009
Dutch Cup: 1996
Spanish Cup: 1997
Golden Ball: 1998 World Cup
Golden Boot: 2002 World Cup
Published in The Express Tribune, February 15th, 2011.
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