The former Brazilian striker Ronaldo announced this Saturday, December 18 that he would buy Cruzeiro, a club where he made his professional debut at the age of 16, but which has languished in the second division for two seasons.
” I am very happy to have concluded this transaction. I owe a lot to the Cruzeiro and I want to bring him back to his place », Declared the double Golden Ball (1997 and 2002) in a video posted on social networks by the president of Cruzeiro, Sérgio Santos Rodrigues.
According to the Globoesporte.com site, Ronaldo, 45, will become the majority shareholder of the club for 400 million reais (around 60 million euros).
In 2018, he had already bought the club Valladolid for 30 million euros, currently in the Spanish second division after his relegation last season.
Back almost 30 years later
Passed by the training center of Sao Cristovao, a small club in Rio de Janeiro, his hometown, Ronaldo joined Cruzeiro at the age of 16. And it was with the Blues of Belo Horizonte that he made his professional debut in 1993.
In total, he scored 56 goals in 58 appearances for Cruzeiro, which earned him a call-up for the 1994 World Cup, which he won without playing a single minute.
After this coronation, he was sold by Cruzeiro to PSV Eindhoven (1994-1996) before shining at FC Barcelona (1996-1997), Inter Milan (1997-2002), Real Madrid (2002-2007) then at AC Milan (2007-2008). Ronaldo then ended his career with the Corinthians in Sao Paulo (2009-2011).
Cruzeiro: from league title to relegation in five years
Cruzeiro has been one of the best Brazilian clubs of the last decade, with two doubles in the national league (2013 and 2014) and in the Brazilian Cup (2017 and 2018).
But the team was relegated at the end of 2019, mainly because of financial problems and internal tensions within the management. She has even been threatened with going down to the third division this season, eventually finishing a pitiful 14th place in the Brazilian Serie B.
(With AFP)