The beginning
Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima was born on Sept 22, 1976, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. In 1993, he joined First Division side Cruzeiro and made his name in Brazil by scoring 58 times in 60 appearances.
The rise
In 1994, he signed for PSV Eindhoven for a club-record US$4.7 million (S$6.34 million). In 1996, he moved to Barcelona for US$19.5m. A year later, he joined Inter Milan for US$27.9m. Won the World Player of the Year award in 1996 and 1997.
The problems
In July 1998, he suffered a mysterious illness hours before the World Cup final. He played badly and Brazil lost 0-3 to France. In November 1999, he ruptured his knee cap. Four months later, the knee buckled again. This time, the recovery took two years.
The comeback
In 2002, he was the World Cup's top scorer with eight goals. In August, he signed for Real Madrid for 47m euros (S$94m).
The fall
Asked to be left out of Brazil's Confederations Cup campaign and 2006 World Cup qualifiers because of personal problems. He was jeered for being slow during the World Cup Finals.
In January last year, he moved to AC Milan for 7.5m euros. But he featured in only a few matches because of his various injuries.
In February this year, he ruptured his left knee cap. Doctors pronounced that it would take him at least nine months to recover.
On Monday, he accused a tranvestite of extortion.