Ronaldo was born in Bento Ribeiro, a poor neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, in 1976. Like many of his contemporaries, he began to play soccer in the streets of his neighbourhood. In 1982, he scored a goal against his neighborhood's biggest rivals, the Pico dela Mirandona Neighborhood District.

Ronaldo's footballing abilities were first recognised when he was 14. 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 the boy when he was old enough for a professional contract.

In 1993, at the age of 16, Ronaldo already had scored 59 goals in 57 matches for Brazil's under-17 squad. By 1994 he had joined the national senior squad, although he did not actually play in the 1994 World Cup in the United States. During World Cup '94, he was given the name "Ronaldinho", to distinguish him from Ronaldão in the squad.

Ronaldo's European career began when he joined PSV Eindhoven for the 1994-1995 season. He became the Dutch top scorer and attracted the attention of Spain's FC Barcelona. He played for Barça in the 1996-1997 season, scoring 34 goals in 37 appearances, then transferred to Inter Milan the following year.

Voted the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997, he had a comparatively disappointing performance during the 1998 World Cup, scoring only four goals. Brazil lost the final to the hosts France after he suffered a mysterious fit the night before. Some questioned the decision to play Ronaldo in the final because of the possible physiological aftereffects of the fit. This was the start of a career nightmare for the striker lasting nearly four years.

A year later, he severely injured his right knee and was out of the game for several months. During his first comeback in 2000, he managed to play only seven minutes during a league game against Lazio before injuring his knee for a second time.

After two operations and twenty months of rehabilitation, Ronaldo managed a comeback during the 2002 World Cup. Later in 2002 he was awarded the title of World Player of the Year for the third time, and transferred from Inter Milan to Real Madrid for £27,000,000, after frequent disputes with Inter Milan coach Héctor Cúper. His transfer to Madrid was the subject of a media frenzy not just laced with the usual hype because of his reputation, but more so because he was now the third successive 'Galactico' (or superstar) signed in as many years by the Spanish Giants as part of their famously hubristic policy of signing the world's biggest superstar football players in order to maintain their levels of success whilst broadening their reaches of fame.

Ronaldo was such a well known signing that sales of his shirt on the day of his signing alone broke all records the world over. Proof of his fame came with the fact that even though Ronaldo was sidelined through injury until October 2002, fans continued to chant his name in the stands. When Ronaldo finally made his debut and scored the second of his brace from Steve McManaman's pass, it was clear for all to see that the goalscoring Ronaldo of old had returned to club football at last. That same reception was observed on the night of the final game of the season against Athletic Bilbao, where Ronaldo scored yet again to seal his first season with 22 league goals (not including the goals in the UEFA Champions League that included a hat-trick in the away at Manchester United), and most importantly, the coveted La Liga Championship title for 2003, where Ronaldo had previously failed to win whilst at FC Barcelona. In the most recent clash between the bitter rivals, (Real & Barcelona), Ronaldo rushed back from an injury for the sake of this match, which, quite surprisingly, ended in a humiliating defeat for Real. In contrast, Ronaldo's compatriot, Ronaldinho, contributed two goals against Real and subsequently was named as the European Footballer of 2005.

On June 2, 2004, Ronaldo scored an unusual hat-trick for Brazil against arch-rivals Argentina in a CONMEBOL qualifier for the 2006 World Cup. He scored all of Brazil's 3 goals from the penalty spot.

In April 1999, Ronaldo married Milene Domingues. The marriage lasted four years and ended in divorce. The couple had a son, Ronald (born 2000).

In 2005 he got engaged and married Brazilian model and MTV VJ Daniella Cicarelli, who became pregnant but suffered a miscarriage, their relationship lasted only 3 months. She is most notable for marrying football player Ronaldo in a ceremony held at the Chantilly chateau. The couple's breakup 84 days after their wedding was featured on the cover of many tabloids and magazines.

--Wikipedia