Do we like Ronaldinho?
Our score: 5 out of 10. A genuinely loved entertainer with real charity work, set against years of backing Bolsonaro and unresolved questions over his name being used in a business scheme.
Ronaldinho grew up in a poor neighbourhood of Porto Alegre and lost his father at eight, with the family doing it tough afterwards. Football became his refuge, and by 13 he was reportedly banging in 23 goals in a single match before Grêmio snapped him up. That kid-with-a-ball story is the heart of his Netflix documentary.
The rest is football legend: a Ballon d'Or in 2005, a famous free-kick against England at the 2002 World Cup, and years of making Barcelona fans grin. The documentary also covers the later years, with fitness and discipline problems, and his 2020 arrest in Paraguay.
That arrest is the big stain. In 2020 he and his brother were charged with entering Paraguay on false passports, jailed for about a month, then moved to hotel house arrest after $1.6 million in bail was posted. I couldn't open a source on how the case finally ended, so we're leaving the ending out rather than guess.
The other mess is business. In 2023 he was called before a Brazilian congressional committee over 18K Ronaldinho, a firm accused of running a crypto pyramid scheme that allegedly promised returns up to 400%. He denied being its founder, saying his image came from a 2016 marketing deal with a US watch company, and he stayed silent on many questions. A 2020 class action over the firm was reported, and the sources I read don't give the outcome.
On the harm test, the issue is politics. He openly campaigned for Jair Bolsonaro on social media in 2018, Barcelona reportedly reduced his role at club events afterwards, and he was reported backing Bolsonaro again in 2022. In 2017 he also posted a photo with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov amid reports of the persecution of gay men there. His caption only thanked his hosts, and reports didn't say he knew the background. No homophobic or anti-trans words of his own turned up.
The good stuff is real. In 2006 he launched the Ronaldinho Gaúcho Institute in Porto Alegre, aimed at giving poor kids sport, schooling, health care and dental treatment, with UN technical backing. He said at the launch it made his dream of helping the most vulnerable young people come true.