Profile Text
Ronaldo in 2007, photo by Prphotos.com
Birth Name: Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima
Place of Birth: Itaguaí, Brazil
Date of Birth: 18 September, 1976
Ethnicity: Brazilian [African, Portuguese]
Ronaldo is a Brazilian professional footballer and business owner. A striker, he played with Cruzeiro, PSV, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Corinthians, and the Brazil national team. He is owner and president of Segunda Division club Real Valladolid, and owned Brasileiro Série A club Cruzeiro. He is widely considered one of the greatest footballers of all time. He is also known as Ronaldo, Ronaldo Nazário, “O Fenômeno”/The Phenomenon, and R9.
Ronaldo is the son of Sônia dos Santos Barata and Nélio Nazário de Lima. Regarding racism in football, he has said , “I think that all blacks suffer (with racism). I, that am white, suffer because of so much ignorance.” In response to this, his father, a dark-skinned African-Brazilian, stated, “He knows quite well that he is black… In truth, at the time I thought it was some type of philosophy, something in this sense… because he knows that he is black.” A picture of Ronaldo’s mother can be found here .
Ronaldo is married to model and businessperson Celina Locks. He has a son, footballer Ronald, with his former wife, footballer Milene Domingues; a son with Michele Umezu; and two children with his former wife Maria Beatriz Antony. He is Catholic. Ronaldo speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian, and has a good understanding of English.