Ronaldo is a retired Brazilian footballer. Popularly dubbed “the phenomenon,” he is one of only three men to have won the FIFA World Player of the Year award three times or more, along with Zinedine Zidane and Lionel Messi. He also won the Ballon d’Or twice, in 1997 and 2002. At age 17, he was a part of the Brazilian squad that won the 1994 FIFA World Cup. At the 1998 World Cup he received the Golden Ball for player of the tournament in helping Brazil reach the final. He won a second World Cup in 2002 where he scored twice in the final, and received the Golden Boot as top goalscorer. Having suffered a string of serious injuries throughout his career, Ronaldo retired from soccer in 2011. He was born on this day in 1976.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Real Madrid and captains the Portugal national team. Ronaldo’s contract with Real Madrid, under the terms of which he is paid €21 million ($28.5 million) per year (after taxes), makes him the highest-paid footballer in the world. He is regarded by some in the sport to be currently the best player in the world. In 2008 and 2013, he won the FIFA Ballon d’Or/World Player of the Year award for the best footballer in the world. He was awarded the European Golden Shoe in 2008, 2011 and 2014.
Note: In the recent 2014 FIFA World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal national team was surprisingly eliminated from Group G, with Germany and the United States advancing to the knockout stage. In fact, during the 2014 World Cup, Germany managed to take out both teams with the top two players in the world, Argentina (Lionel Messi) and Portugal (Ronaldo), en route to a fourth World Cup title.
Lionel Messi is an Argentine footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelona and the Argentina national team. He serves as the captain of his country’s national football team. Commonly ranked as the best player in the world and rated by some in the sport as the greatest of all time, Messi is the first football player in history to win four FIFA Ballon d’Or/World Player of the Year awards, all of which he won consecutively (2009-2012), as well as the first to win three European Golden Shoe awards. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal with the Argentina football team.
Note: Today Lionel Messi’s Argentina team faces the Germany national football team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Best known by his nickname Pelé, this man is the greatest soccer player of all time. In his native Brazil, he is hailed as a national hero. In addition to his contributions to the game of football, he is known for his support of policies to improve the social conditions of the poor. Celebrated as “The King of Football,” he was born on this day in 1940.
