Before Messi and Ronaldo turned world football into a two-man argument, there was Ronaldinho — and Netflix's new three-part documentary Ronaldinho: The One and Only is a sharp reminder of how dominant, and how joyful, he was.
The doc has shot to number one on Netflix, and it earns that spot. This isn't hagiography dressed up as biography. It draws on the man himself, his closest teammates — including Lionel Messi — and enough archival footage to make clear why Ronaldinho was widely considered the best player on the planet between 2003 and 2007.
What the documentary actually covers
Two FIFA World Player of the Year awards. A 2002 World Cup winners' medal with Brazil. The 2006 Champions League with Barcelona. These aren't honorary footnotes — they're the spine of a career that shaped modern football more than most fans now remember.
The film doesn't shy away from the decline either. Ronaldinho burned brightly and briefly. By the late 2000s, reports of unprofessional behaviour had eroded what felt like limitless potential. The doc addresses the fall, not just the peak, which is what separates it from something like Apple TV+'s Messi's World Cup, which famously skips inconvenient chapters.
The goals are all here. The chip against England at the 2002 World Cup. The Clásico at the Bernabéu where he so thoroughly dismantled Real Madrid that opposition fans gave him a standing ovation. These weren't flukes — they were the natural output of a player whose relationship with the ball looked genuinely different from everyone else's.
Why Ronaldinho's story still matters
There's a direct line between Ronaldinho and the two players who followed him to the summit. He set up Messi's first senior Barcelona goal. And when he chose Barça over Manchester United, he left a wing vacant at Old Trafford that an unknown 18-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo stepped into. Neither of those things is trivia — they're inflection points.
His style matters too. Ronaldinho played football like it was supposed to be fun. No obsessive goal tallies, no brand-management smile. Just skill, spontaneity, and that grin. He was the last elite player whose legacy doesn't get measured in Ballon d'Or counts and social media reach.
For anyone thinking about the Brazilian football odds market or how South American flair gets valued in European football — the Ronaldinho era is where that conversation starts. The template he set at Barcelona shaped how the club recruited and played for the next decade.
Ronaldinho: The One and Only is streaming on Netflix now. Watch the Bernabéu clip alone and try to argue he didn't deserve every word of the praise.
