Ronaldinho’s retirement has hardly been quiet.
Since leaving professional football, there have been legends matches, business ventures, the Kings League and, rather more seriously, a false passport scandal that landed him in a Paraguayan prison.
Now comes another unexpected chapter.
At 46, Ronaldinho has become a shareholder in Serie C side Ravenna FC. He has also been registered as a player and handed the No.10 shirt.
His last competitive appearance came for Fluminense in September 2015. More than a decade later, this is not another testimonial or legends game.
If Ronaldinho plays, it will be for Serie C points.
It hasn’t happened yet. He missed Ravenna’s opening league fixture, but the possibility of a competitive return remains.
Why Has Ronaldinho Joined Ravenna FC?
The move is not quite as random as it first appears.
Ravenna president Ignazio Cipriani was born in the city but spent much of his life in the United States. He is part of the Cipriani family behind the famous Harry’s Bar in Venice and its wider hospitality business.
In 2024, he turned his attention to his hometown football club.
Founded in 1913, Ravenna have spent much of their history in Italy’s lower divisions. They have never reached Serie A and last played in Serie B in 2008.
Now back in Serie C, Cipriani has much bigger ambitions for the club.
A Proper Football Structure
Ronaldinho might grab the headlines, but there are experienced football people behind the project.
Former AC Milan sporting director Ariedo Braida is involved at board level. He spent more than two decades at Milan and was still there when Ronaldinho arrived from Barcelona in 2008, meaning the pair already know each other from their time at San Siro.
Ravenna have experience in the dugout too. Andrea Mandorlini has managed throughout the Italian pyramid and previously guided Hellas Verona back into Serie A.
That matters.
Ronaldinho can bring attention to Ravenna. Braida, Mandorlini and the recruitment staff have the much less glamorous job of getting them out of Serie C.
Ronaldinho’s Share in Ravenna
The deal starts with Ravenna president and majority owner Ignazio Cipriani, who bought his hometown club in 2024.
Ronaldinho was Cipriani’s footballing idol growing up. The pair later became friends, and that relationship has now become business.
Ronaldinho has taken a financial stake in Ravenna, although how much he invested and what percentage he owns remain private.
What we can measure is the attention.
Ravenna have made 2,800 season tickets available this season. A place in the Curva Mero costs €175, around £150, while a matchday ticket starts at €13, roughly £11.
Ronaldinho’s limited-edition No.10 shirt costs €129, around £110, almost ten times the price of watching Ravenna from behind the goal.
It Has Been a Strange Retirement
Then again, Ronaldinho never fancied a conventional retirement.
He officially called time on his career in 2018, three years after leaving Fluminense, but football has remained a constant.
There have been exhibitions, legends matches and ambassadorial appearances. In 2023, he even turned up for Ibai Llanos’ Porcinos FC in Gerard Piqué’s Kings League.
He has walked at Paris Fashion Week, appeared in films and advertising campaigns and attached his name to various business ventures.
And then there was Paraguay.
The Passport Scandal
In March 2020, Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto Assis were arrested after entering Paraguay using false Paraguayan passports.
It became one of the more surreal stories of the early months of that year.
A World Cup winner and former Ballon d’Or holder suddenly found himself inside a Paraguayan prison.
Ronaldinho spent 32 days in custody before he and his brother were transferred to house arrest in a hotel in Asunción after posting bail.
Even prison somehow produced a Ronaldinho football story.
He took part in a prison tournament and, according to reports from Paraguay, scored five and assisted six in an 11-2 victory.
Eventually, after around five months in Paraguay, Ronaldinho and his brother were allowed to return to Brazil.
It was a bizarre and serious episode in a post-playing life that has rarely been quiet.
Then Ravenna Registered Him
Which brings us back to Italy.
It would have been easy for Ronaldinho to arrive as a shareholder, pose with the shirt and spend matchdays in the directors’ box.
Instead, Ravenna registered him to play.
And obviously, he has the No.10.
There needs to be some perspective.
Ronaldinho is 46 and has not played professional football for more than a decade. Nobody should expect him to start drifting between the lines every weekend and running Serie C matches.
This is not a conventional comeback.
There is, however, a reason for keeping his boots nearby.
Attention Only Gets You So Far
For Ravenna, Ronaldinho’s potential cameo is ultimately a bonus.
His name brings sponsors, shirt sales and international attention to a club that would otherwise receive little coverage outside the Italian lower leagues.
There are examples of ambitious ownership working in Italy. Como climbed from Serie D to Serie A under the Hartono-backed project, with Cesc Fàbregas joining as a shareholder before becoming head coach.
Ravenna are operating on a very different scale, but the lesson is the same. A famous name can open doors; it cannot win promotion.
Ronaldinho cannot dribble Ravenna into Serie B from the directors’ box.
That job belongs to Mandorlini and his players.
One Last Samba?
There is one final reason Ronaldinho might actually pull on the Ravenna shirt: goal number 300.
Cipriani has spoken about wanting him to score the final goal of his professional career for the club, although Ronaldinho has stopped short of saying when he will play.
And this would be proper football. Serie C players are fighting for contracts, careers and promotion. Nobody is giving Ronaldinho an extra yard because they grew up watching him. If anything, there will be defenders desperate to say they stopped one of the greatest players of his generation.
Nobody should expect prime Ronaldinho at 46, but there might still be one afternoon left. One appearance, one free-kick or loose ball in the box, and one last goal.
His career took him from Porto Alegre to Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Mexico and back to Brazil. Retirement somehow added a Paraguayan prison cell.
Now it has taken him to Ravenna.
Perhaps the strangest thing Ronaldinho could do next is have a quiet few years.
