Ronaldinho or better known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho is one of the most recognized and talented Brazilian players in the entire history of football with a sports career that lasted a little more than 20 years.
Ronaldinho made his debut as a professional footballer in the club Gremio of Porto Alegre and continued his football career in Europe, where he played for Paris Saint Germain Barcelona and AC Milan.
He always stood out for his great technique and skill when it came to controlling the ball, the precision of his passes and free throws as well as his improvised plays including the famous “elastica”.
Ronaldinho won the FIFA title for best player in the world twice in a row in 2004 and 2005. He also won the King of Europe award in 2004, 2005 and 2006 when he played for Barcelona and in addition to all this, he won the Golden Ball in 2005. Here you can learn more about Brazil’s historic player.
Although everyone wonders how old is Ronaldinho, many are surprised to know that he is 41 years old. Although he has great trajectory, he is not exempt from public view and from being able to fall into controversial facts regarding his personal life, as it was on the night of March 6, 2020, where he and his brother were arrested by the Department Against Organized Crime in a hotel in Asunción, Paraguay.
The reason for the capture was the use of false passports with which they entered the country. In those papers, they both said that their nationality was paraguayan, which was false.
The reason for the visit of Ronaldinho and his family was to participate in a campaign promoted by the Angelic Fraternity, which provides medicines for children of scarce resources, in addition to the presentation of his book entitled Genio en la vida.
While in prison, Ronaldinho was playing matches alongside the other inmates. Some of the prisoners even prepared a complimentary roast for him to celebrate his 40th birthday, which he spent behind bars.
Why did they have fake passports?
According to the version of Ronaldinho’s lawyer and his brother, these documents were given to them by Dalia López, president of Permanent Oriental Holding S.A., the company that hired them, and which is wanted for money laundering.
The passports were given as a gift, despite the fact that Paraguay does not request a visa from Brazil as a result of the agreements between mercosur members.
Ronaldinho and his brother did carry their Brazilian cards, but intentionally chose not to hand them over, which remains as part of the investigation into this case.
When was he released?
After a month locked up, Ronaldinho reached an agreement to serve his sentence by house arrest at the Palmaroga Hotel in Asunción, where he had parties with paraguayan models, according to local media.
On August 24, after 6 months in detention, the judge of guarantees accepted the conditional suspension of the process for which he was accused with the condition that both brothers pay different sums of money as “social reparation”, according to the measures established by the judge in his ruling.
For the total suspension of the process to become effective, Ronaldinho had to donate $90,000 between a medical and hospital center in Asunción and a campaign to help a sick minor.
His brother, who is also Ronaldinho’s manager, was also forced to make a donation of $110,000 that would be used to purchase equipment for the fight against COVID-19.
Currently, it is well known that the Brazilian footballer retired definitively from the fields on January 16, 2018.