Barcelona Legend and former World Footballer of the year, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, popularly known as Ronaldinho has finally retired from Professional Football.
Roberto Assis, the brother, and agent of the 2005 Ballon d’Or winner confirmed Tuesday that the 37-year-old wants to play a series of farewell matches from August _ and then focus on his already busy life off the pitch.
Ronaldinho played his last professional match in 2015 for Brazilian club Fluminense.
“Ronnie’s professional career is over. He wants to be a football ambassador, do charity, and work with his friends in music from now on,” Assis told The Associated Press.
Assis hopes to schedule some farewell matches for Ronaldinho after the World Cup in Russia, which ends July 15.
The initial plan is to play games in Brazil, Europe, and Asia and to also get Brazil’s national team involved, Assis said.
Last July, Ronaldinho said on the sidelines of a friendly in Chechnya that was he was “too old” to return to action. He repeated that to a Brazilian TV in November but did not rule out reconsidering.
Ronaldinho’s decorated career also includes one World Cup title (2002), one Champions League victory (2006) and two Spanish league titles with Barcelona, and two FIFA world player of the year awards (2004 and 2005).
He played 101 matches and scored 35 goals for Brazil from 1997 to 2013.
Ronaldinho started his professional career at Gremio in southern Brazil in 1998. He left for Paris Saint-Germain in 2001 and was signed by Barcelona two seasons later.
At the Camp Nou, Ronaldinho was an integral member of a squad that took Barca back to the limelight. He played 207 games and gave 94 goals and 61 assists to the team.
