Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima is still though of as one of the best players ever to grace the beautiful game. He won the FIFA World Player of the Year three times and the Ballon d’Or twice – an award he tipped Cristiano Ronaldo to win this year. He also became a Real Madrid legend during his stint at the club between 2002-2007 where he won a slew of honours.
However, as we all know, unfortunately he succumbed to a string of knee injuries and eventually retired in 2011 playing his final game for Brazilian side Corinthians. Upon retirement, it was unclear what would be the next move for the Brazilian ace.
He had many flirtations with coaching and coming out of retirement – most recently a rumour circulated about Ronaldo playing again in the United States for Lauderdale Strikers as reported by the Independent. Although it is now reported that the 38-year-old will not play for the second division side, he is now a part owner of the team.
It’s clear that Ronaldo is definitely keeping himself active, albeit it for his portly appearance. Another story that recently hit the news is his forays into professional poker, a sport that Ronaldo has never been shy of hiding his affection for.
In January 2015, Ronaldo featured in the Caribbean Adventure Main Event in the Bahamas, which featured some of the world’s best poker players from across the world. The televised event had a 1st prize of $1.4 million.
Ronaldo has been a long advocate of playing in charity events where he’s played alongside Barcelona defender Gerard Pique and tennis great Rafael Nadal as well as many other sports stars. But his inroads into the professional ranks have been lauded by his peers. In the aforementioned Caribbean event, Ronaldo ended up finishing in 26th place in a field consisting of over 800 players. When you break down the numbers, it means that he managed to finish in the top 4% – an impressing feat for an amateur player.
Spanish golfer, Sergio Garcia featured in last year’s Caribbean tournament, however Ronaldo outperformed him finishing 26 places higher than him this year. And Ronaldo couldn’t hide his joy of finishing so impressively, as he told The Daily Mail: “I’m really excited, it’s the same emotion I used to have at the soccer fields playing at the highest level.”
Seeing retired, or even active sports stars from different disciplines succeed in poker isn’t by any stretch of the imagination new. Due to poker and casino gaming being readily available online nowadays, many people are able to live out their dreams online and practice honing their skills for “more personal competitive competition.” Online casino portals saw their inception when Cryptologic brought the far-reaching InterCasino online which changed the face of online gaming forever.
Now ex-pros like Ronaldo, Giazka Mendieta, Teddy Sheringham and Tony Cascarino all ply their trade on the world poker circuit making a modest living because of the basis that online poker gave them to develop their skillset.
With a hectic schedule of television commitments, his new alligance with Lauderdale Strikers and his many ambassadorial roles, its unsure how often Ronaldo will feature in the poker season. However, after recent polished performances it’ll be interesting to see how far he can go in the sport after pretty much accomplishing everything in the world of football.
