Ronaldinho was once considered the best player in the world. He dazzled the world with his silky samba tricks and was featured everywhere as the epitomy of football (who can forget the Nike advert where he played the ball off the crossbar like he was merely passing it 5 metres?).
Ronaldinho had a glittering career which consisted of a successful spell at Barcelona and the World Cup triumph in 2002 amongst other things. His career took a downfall eventually with late night partying and a lifestyle not befitting an athlete leading to a loss of fitness and form when he eventually moved to AC Milan in 2008.
Since Milan, he moved around quite a bit including a brief stint in the Indian Premier Futsal League as well before his retirement in 2018. Ronaldinho will always be considered a legend of the game and to hear of his arrest in Paraguary has been absolutely shocking.
But why is he in jail?
Ronaldinho has not had the easiest of times with the law. In keeping with many other famous footballers (we are looking at you Messi and Ronaldo), the trouble was with taxes. He had over 50 of his properties seized and his passports taken away in July 2019 due to unpaid taxes and fines.
On March 6 2020, he was found entering Paraguay under the suspicion of a fake passport and documents. Although both he and his brother Roberto deny doing so, the Paraguayan courts have denied them bail and their request to be placed under house arrest instead.
His imprisonment resulted in him celebrating his 40th birthday locked up albeit with a barbeque. All things considered, he isn’t having an extremely tough time in there as he is known to be playing football every day and has quickly integrated with the rest of his inmates, many of whom idolize him. It didn’t take long for him to take part and win a 5-a-side prison tournament with his team winning the grand prize of a 16kg suckling pig!
One may think that having people who idolize you around and football every day might seem like a decent life but according to Nelson Cuevas (a former River Plate player who visited Ronaldinho), the whole situation has made Ronaldinho extremely sad.
He may still be smiling for the cameras but 6 months inside (which is what he could be facing) could do a lot to a man. Stay tuned for more updates.