The samba melody has echoed across the Adriatic. Ronaldinho is back in professional football, and his new stage is Ravenna, an Italian third-tier club with a grand, romantic narrative. At 46 years old, the 2005 Ballon d’Or winner was unveiled at a “Ronaldinho Day” celebration on a city beach, where thousands of fans endured pouring rain to witness the return of one of football’s most entrancing artists. He hasn’t played an official match since retiring from top-level football in 2015, yet here he is, ready to chase a milestone that has eluded him: the 300th career goal.
The audacity of the story began in June, when club owner Ignacio Cipriani, who has controlled Ravenna since 2024, announced the coup during the World Cup in Miami. At the time, many thought it was a hoax, a buried summer joke. But Thursday’s presentation was definitive. “His objective is romantic, to try to score his last goal,” Cipriani said, adding with assurance: “His involvement is not a token gesture or a marketing stunt to get people talking about us.” Ronaldinho himself confirmed his official intent after looking at “ friends, we have a team that can do something good.” He will also become a shareholder in the club, intertwining his legend with the city of 160,000.
But the imagination will have to wait. Cipriani confirmed that Ronaldinho will not feature in Monday’s Serie C opener against Reggiana. The expectations will simmer for a debut that could come at any moment. Meanwhile, the club’s coffers are already overflowing with new hope: 1, 200 season tickets were sold solely because of Ronaldinho’s mythical presence. The ancient Byzantine capital, long an afterthought in Italian football, has never been spoken of so loudly across the globe.
The grins are still there, but the race of a football once seen is still a beautiful rewe. Ronaldinho, who starred for Barcelona, AC Milan of and the Brazilian national team, scored 33 goals in 97 appearances for his country. Now his aim is to reach the 300-goal mark that requires a few more mechanical touches. He isn’t the oldest player in the professional ranks; that label belongs to Japan’s Kazuyoshi Miura, 59, who continues to defy time. Yet, the return of a player who once made the globe’s most gifted dignitaries chase shadows gives the phrase “football comeback” a different meaning. For Ravenna, this is no experiment. It’s a promise.
