{{Infobox Football biography | playername = Ronaldo | image =

Having begun his proffesional career at Brazilian side Cruzeiro, Ronaldo signed with PSV Eindhoven in 1994, and after that he had tenures with FC Barcelona, Internazionale, and Real Madrid prior to joining A.C. Milan.

A former member of the Brazil national football team, Ronaldo has played 97 international matches, and was part of the Brazilian squads that won the 1994 and 2002 World Cups. He is the highest goalscorer in the history of the World Cup with 15 goals, having surpassed Gerd Müller's previous record of 14 at the 2006 tournament.

Ronaldo has won three FIFA World Player of the Year awards in 1996, 1997, 2002 and is one of two men to have won the award three times, along with former Real Madrid teammate Zinedine Zidane. He also won two "Ballon d'Or" awards in 1997 and 2002. Ronaldo has been nicknamed "The Phenomenon" (Portuguese: lang: O Fenômeno, Spanish: lang: El Fenómeno). Pelé named him one of the 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. In 2007 France Football named him in their best starting 11 of all time.

Cruzeiro and Early career

Ronaldo was born in Bento Ribeiro, a poor neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. Like many of his friends, he began to play football in the streets of his neighborhood. Ronaldo's actual date of birth is September 18, however, his father did not register his birth certificate until September 22, so some discrepancies have existed as to his actual birth date. His first club was Tennis Club Valgueire. After that he played in Social Ramos and São Cristóvão. His football abilities were really recognised when he was 14, when he was recommended to the Brazil youth team by World Cup winner Jairzinho, who also arranged for his own former club, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, to sign him when he was old enough for a professional contract. Ronaldo scored 12 goals in 14 games in the Brazilian National Championship, and in the Minas Gerais State Championship he scored 22 goals in 18 matches, inlcuding all three goals in Cruzeiro's 3-1 victory against arch-rival Atlético Minero. Cruzeiro won Campeonato Mineiro 1994 and Ronaldo was a top scorer. He also was a top scorer of Supercopa Libertadores in 1993. He reached a total of 45 goals in 49 official appearances.

PSV

After being scouted by Piet de Visser, he was soon transferred for US$6 million to PSV Eindhoven, where he scored 42 goals in 46 league games and reached a total of 55 goals in 57 official appearances. With PSV he won the Dutch Cup in 1996 and was Eredivisie top scorer in 1995.

Barcelona

Later he attracted the attention of FC Barcelona. He played for Barça in the 1996-97 season, scoring 47 goals in 49 games (including appearances in the Spanish Cup & Spanish Supercup and European Cup Winners Cup) on the way to leading the Catalan side to UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph (where he capped the season with the winning goal in the cup final itself)and to Spanish Cup and Spanish Supercup. He also won La Liga top scorer award in 1997 and as of 2008, Ronaldo is the last player to score more than 30 goals in one season in the Spanish La Liga.