The wizard returns: Ronaldinho, 46, ends 11-year absence, joins Italian football's 3rd tier

Ronaldinho is due to play competitive football again today, more than a decade after his last match, when Ravenna host Forlì in a sold-out derby in Serie C.

Sport1 reported that coach Andrea Mandorlini has said the former world player of the year will start from the first minute. That announcement filled the Stadio Bruno Benelli, and the club is adding an extra stand to cope with demand. The match is also important for the club, which sits six points off second place in Group B.

It is the strangest comeback in modern football: a man who once dismantled the world's best defences is back in a division where most clubs are semi-professional, and where his younger opponents were not born when he made his debut. Whether it is a farewell gift to fans, a publicity stunt or both, it will be among the most-watched Serie C games ever played.

How the comeback happened

AFP reported in June that Ronaldinho was set to sign for Ravenna, saying he was already in the United States for the World Cup, and that a source close to the deal confirmed it. Club president Ignazio Cipriani said at the time that he would play at least one Serie C game and wants to score the last goal of his career in Ravenna. Ronaldinho said he could not wait to dance with the ball again and to write a new story with Cipriani and his family.

The announcement set off immediate speculation that a full return was in the offing, but the signals from the club were more guarded. Ravenna's vice-president, Ariedo Braida, said it was not out of the question that he would play, describing him as a champion who has no age. When he arrived in Italy in August for a beach ceremony, he did not feature in the opening league match, and it was not clear how much he would play during the campaign. That uncertainty remains.

For the derby, Ronaldinho has set himself a modest goal: to make the people of Ravenna happy and reward their passion, he told reporters.

The making of a prodigy

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira was born in Porto Alegre in southern Brazil on 21 March 1980, and he joined the youth ranks of Grêmio in 1987, staying until 1998, according to his career record. He made his senior debut that year and scored 47 goals in 89 appearances for Grêmio before leaving in 2001.

The nickname that followed him, "O Bruxo," means "The Wizard." It was earned by his dribbling, his vision and an apparent joy that seemed to infect everything he did.

Europe: Paris, then Barcelona

At 21, he moved to Paris Saint-Germain, where he made 55 appearances and scored 17 goals over two seasons. He then signed for Barcelona in 2003, and the transformation began.

Under manager Frank Rijkaard, he became the centre of a team that had lost its way. He played 145 league games for Barcelona and scored 70 goals. He won La Liga twice, in 2004-05 and 2005-06, and the Champions League in 2006. He was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005, and won the 2005 Ballon d'Or. One of the defining moments of that era came at the Santiago Bernabéu, where Real Madrid's own fans stood to applaud him, a rare honour for an opposing player in that stadium.

His influence stretched beyond his own medals. Lionel Messi and Xavi have credited him with starting the era of Barcelona dominance that followed, according to one profile. He is one of just eight players to have won the World Cup, the Champions League and the Ballon d'Or.

The World Cup, and a slower decline

With Brazil, he made 97 appearances and scored 33 goals, including two at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, where Brazil won the tournament. His 2006 World Cup was a disappointment.

From the peak of 2005 and 2006, the arc bent downward. He left Barcelona in 2008 for AC Milan, where he stayed until 2011, playing 76 league games and scoring 20 goals, and winning the Serie A title in 2010-11. He then returned to Brazil, joining Flamengo on 11 January 2011 to a welcome from more than 20,000 fans at his unveiling. His time there ended amid a dispute: his brother and agent, Roberto Assis, had been complaining that the club was not paying him everything he was owed.

At Atlético Mineiro from 2012, he had a late peak, leading the club to its first Copa Libertadores title in 2013. He then moved to the Mexican club Querétaro in 2014, and joined Fluminense in July 2015. That spell was his last competitive football.

Retirement, and the years between

His brother Assis confirmed his retirement in January 2018, in a column for the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, saying that "it is ended." The announcement was an anticlimax for fans who had once hoped for a grand farewell.

The years that followed were turbulent. In March 2020, he was arrested in Paraguay in a fake passport case, and his lawyer confirmed the arrest to the Associated Press. He was later released from prison and moved to house arrest, according to FotMob. His reputation as one of football's great entertainers survived, and he continued to appear at charity matches and exhibition events, including a futsal tournament in India.

What is at stake in Ravenna

On the pitch, the comeback is a test of whether a 46-year-old can compete with fit professionals half his age. Off it, the stakes are clearer. The sold-out stadium, the added stand and the international attention suggest that for Ravenna, the commercial return has already begun.

What the match cannot answer is why he is doing it, and for how long. Cipriani said he would play at least one match. Mandorlini has said he will start. Neither has said what happens next, or whether this afternoon is the first of several appearances or the only one.