"New colours, same smile." That's Ronaldinho's pitch for his surprise link-up with Italian Serie C club Ravenna FC. The only problem? He won't actually be playing for them.
The Brazilian icon, 46, set social media alight this week with quotes about dancing on the ball and writing new stories with the Cipirani family. An official announcement is reportedly coming next week in Miami. For about 24 hours, the football world let itself believe Ronaldinho was staging the most charismatic comeback since anyone can remember.
Marketing event, not a matchday return
Ravenna honorary vice-president Ariedo Braida killed that dream quickly. "Ronaldinho will do a marketing event with us, but he won't play for Ravenna in Serie C next season," he said. Clear, flat, final.
So what is this, exactly? A brand partnership dressed up in footballing language. Ronaldinho calling Ravenna "home" and expressing a desire to bring joy to the club sounds romantic — but it's the kind of language that sells shirts and shifts sponsorship deals, not one that precedes a debut in the third tier of Italian football.
That's not a criticism of Ronaldinho. The man won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002, took home the Ballon d'Or, and terrorised defences at Barcelona and AC Milan for years. He has earned the right to attach his name to whatever venture he chooses at 46. Ravenna get the profile boost; Ronaldinho presumably gets a commercial arrangement that suits him. Everyone wins — except the fans who briefly pictured him nutmegging a left-back in front of 8,000 people on a Tuesday night in Emilia-Romagna.
His last competitive appearance came with Fluminense in 2015, with retirement officially confirmed in 2018. A decade on, this is what a Ronaldinho comeback actually looks like: a press event in Miami and a club crest on a social media post.
