After watching the 2026 World Cup match where Norway eliminated Brazil, bloggers wrote on how only one player boarded the plane back home. The reason was obvious, they weren’t sure they’d receive a hero’s welcome, like we saw with Egypt. They were eliminated in the round of 16 which is the country’s best ever performance. That got me thinking, if Ronaldinho was still playing, would the welcome have been any different.
Let’s look at Portugal, Ronaldo is the GOAT. After they were eliminated, he got a drone light display, perhaps marking what is most likely his last world cup match. Ronaldinho is a legend. He’s loved worldwide and despite retiring from competitive play at least 15 years ago, he’s still getting celebrity endorsements and interviews. You can even find him in a free game with his name in a social casino, that is the level of his influence. Here’s why we think he came to be loved by most.
An icon for generations to come
A friend recently told me about how in every corner of Brazil, people play soccer. Whether it is a group playing in the middle of the street or kids in a local park trying to recreate the “Elastico,” it seems as though everyone in Brazil plays soccer. This was possible due to the creativity of Ronaldinho Gaucho.
Ronaldinho welcomed teenage Messi onto Barca’s senior team, and at that time, Ronaldinho was arguably the greatest player on Earth. He wanted new teammate Messi to feel comfortable so much that he asked Messi to sit next to him in the locker room. All of the veteran players took notice and respected Messi from that point forward. After a few minutes of being introduced to the game on the pitch, Ronaldinho set up Messi’s first official goal. Even today, Ronaldinho helps shield Messi from the pressures of transitioning to a professional league.
Ronaldinho helped guide a young Neymar in dealing with the massive amounts of pressure that came with wearing Brazil’s iconic #10 jersey – previously worn by Pele and Kaka.
He was also possibly the first “viral” player
What do you think was the first YouTube video to reach a million views? It was a Nike commercial featuring Ronaldinho. He puts on a pair of white/gold Tiempo boots and starts juggling the ball out near the top right corner of the box and proceeds to hit each of them four times (each without hitting the ground). People still argue if those hits were created using computer-generated imagery (CGI). Ha, if it was today, we’d be saying it was AI. That does not matter. What is important is that Ronaldinho accidentally wrote the playbook for digital sports marketing.
Ronaldinho did not have any formal training, unlike most professional players
Pelada is the Brazilian version of naked, disorganized street soccer. Dirt pitches, no referees, and a taped-up ball. Ronaldinho never truly left Pelada. He simply moved it from dirt pitches in Brazil to beautiful European soccer fields. Today’s coaches spend their time analyzing player performance based on stats such as heat maps, low blocks, and triggering presses while Ronaldinho played based solely on rhythm.
Ronaldinho refused to become a corporate athlete
All modern-day superstars run like Fortune 500 companies. While I understand why teams would try to control how their players market themselves through sponsorships, I believe it is evident. Every week during games when Haaland has yet to score prior to the 65th minute, I’ve seen Guardiola take Haaland out of the game to protect his stats. If a robot will not perform based on its algorithms, you reboot it. You do not allow it to fail in front of TV cameras.
Consider the contracts. Players today give up their image rights, their diet, and their online presence. Ronaldinho agreed to work with Coca Cola and then showed up at a press conference, grabbed a can of Pepsi because he was thirsty and drank it. As a result of doing something instinctual without any guidance from public relations professionals, Ronaldinho gave up a $750k contract in five seconds.
While he was on house arrest in a Paraguayan hotel due to an illegal passport, Ronaldinho did not issue a public apology. Instead, he headed into the prison yard where he participated in a futsal tournament with prisoners. He won a 16 pound pig and posed for photos.
He was fortunate that there was no comparable player in his era
Soccer fans enjoy dividing themselves into tribes. We create binary civil wars between athletes by pitting them against each other. i.e., Messi v Ronaldo, Lebron v Jordan, Federer v Nadal etc. The reason we do this is because we cannot help but see athletes as either/or options. However, Ronaldinho was able to escape these comparisons because there was no direct competitor to him.
Zinedine Zidane was a mastermind but he represented another level of cold calculation of French pragmatism. Ronaldo Nazario was a deadly force of nature but his story revolved around tragedy, knees and redemption. Therefore, Ronaldinho occupied a void and only existed at one level.
He made failure feel human
As stated above, today’s players are essentially sovereign wealth funds in athletic shorts. When they lose money through investments, the fans – aka the shareholders – demand heads roll. They reference expected goals, progressive carries and pressure intensity.
When Mbappé missed a World Cup 2026 penalty against Morocco he shouted at the referee. He yelled because he knew the spreadsheet did not include any variables for friction, like how time was wasted with the VAR checks. Missing a penalty is unforgivable and he wanted to be accountable.
