Names of Brazilian soccer stars can be confusing. Because the Portuguese naming tradition uses four names, players are typically given nicknames or go by their first name. That’s why there are three Freds who have played abroad. But one name may sound immediately familiar and yet strangely alien at the same time — Ronaldão.
At first glance, you might assume Ronaldão is Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, also known as Ronaldo Nazário, the former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid striker known as O Fenômeno. Though he gained plenty of weight in his later years, you’d be wrong.
Maybe it’s a bastardization of Ronaldinho, the Brazilian who sparkled at Barcelona and AC Milan also known as Ronaldo de Assis Moreira or Ronaldinho Gaúcho? Nope.
Maybe you think Ronaldão is referring to Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese star who has played for Manchester United and Real Madrid. Again, you’d be wrong.
But Ronaldão did force Ronaldo to be known as Ronaldinho for a while because he was also known as Ronaldo. Confused yet? Let’s explain.
Ronaldão was a Brazilian defender born in 1965 with the name Ronaldo Rodrigues de Jesus. He played 14 matches for the Seleção and was a member of the 1994 World Cup-winning side. Outside of a two-year stint in Japan, Ronaldão spent his career in Brazil, winning two Série A titles with his hometown club São Paulo.
Ronaldão celebrating the 1994 World Cup win. Photo: @playerssegundab | Twitter
Ronaldão was originally known as Ronaldo, his given first name. Both Ronaldão and a 17-year-old Ronaldo Nazário were on the 1994 World Cup team, though neither actually made it into a match. To prevent the team from having two Ronaldos, Ronaldo Nazário was briefly known as Ronaldinho.
Ronaldo was once known as Ronaldinho because of Ronaldão. Photo: @muziejs | Twitter
As Ronaldo Nazário grew in fame, moving to PSV in 1994 and scoring 42 goals in 46 appearances, he took over the Ronaldo name and Ronaldo Rodrigues de Jesus made the shift to Ronaldão, which essentially means “big Ronaldo.”
O Fenômeno, born in 1976, was one of the greatest players in the history of the game, with 15 World Cup goals (second all time) and three World Player of the Year trophies. He’s one of the few players with multiple World Cup titles. Because of Ronaldo’s success, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira was known as Ronaldinho, “little Ronaldo.”
Ronaldinho, born in 1980, was also a brilliant player, winning FIFA World Player of the Year twice to go with a Champions League and World Cup crown. And yet even Ronaldinho has taken a back seat to Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who was born in 1985, won five Ballon ‘dOrs and is in the conversation as one of the greatest all time.
Three Ronaldos with more footballing history than most countries could ever dream of, and yet none were the original Ronaldo.
While his name is now mostly lost to history, Ronaldão is not without his own claims to fame.
Ronaldão’s most famous (infamous?) piece of defending came in the International Cup (the precursor to the Club World Cup) in 1992 playing for São Paulo against Barcelona in Japan. Ronaldão clattered into Bulgarian legend Hristo Stroichkov with a tackle that was adjudged to be fair, but forced the Barca player to fall awkwardly.
“It was a split ball; the judge did not miss it,” Ronaldão later said. “Stoichkov came, and I hit the ball. He fell a little weird. I felt it was necessary to minimize spaces for him.”
The match was one of Ronaldão’s two Intercontinental Cup titles — São Paulo beat AC Milan the following year — having also won two Copa Libertadores. He also scored twice in his 14 appearances for Brazil despite being a defender.
Ronaldão will never be confused Ronaldo, Ronaldinho or Cristiano Ronaldo. But it’s worth remembering he was a World Cup winner who once forced one of the greatest goal scorers of all time Ronaldo to be known as Ronaldinho before Ronaldinho was Ronaldinho and Ronaldo was just a boy from Madeira.
The18 Recommends For You
