Who is rivaldo

Rivaldo was born in Paulista, Brazil on April 19, As a midfielder, he spent a decade on the Brazilian national team from to and enjoyed a victorious club career with such teams as FC Barcelona and AC Milan.

He played alongside. His daily routine was selling souvenirs to tourists in the morning and playing football with his friends in the evening. His father Romildo worked in the city hall of Recife and every day inculcated in his sons that it is binding to knock out people.

And one way to implement this plan was football. His mother Marlucia was the heart and soul of the family. With his two older brothers, Rinaldo and Ricardo, and two younger sisters, Rivaldo suffered poverty and hunger. He did not have much to laugh about; he was bow-legged and even he had lost his real teeth because of malnutrition and had to have them replaced with dentures. He once mentioned that "Anyone who has not experienced life as far down as I have will never be able to understand it.

In Brazil, becoming a professional player in the first division was the only way to escape from poverty. The only one who believed in the young Rivaldo was his father; he and his son were inseparable. Romildo was one father among many who believed that one of his sons would make the breakthrough. At the age of 16, Rivaldo started playing for Paulista Recife.

While he achieved the opportunity to get into the football academy, in a car accident his father died, and the youngster missed the screening.

He moved to Mogi Mirim in and then to Corinthians in After two years in , he again moved to Deportivo where he stayed for one season to play in La Liga and scored 20 goals in a game stretch for. That year Rivaldo helped Barcelona win the Spanish League championship, an achievement the team repeated in He made appearances for Barcelona and netted 86 goals in the five-year duration, winning the and La Liga and the Copa del Rey. In Rivaldo joined perennial Italian powerhouse AC Milan, but his performance there was largely lacklustre as it was for the World Cup-winning Brazilian team that year.

Afterwards, he signed with a series of teams before rejoining, in , his first professional club, Mogi Mirim, where one of his teammates was his son Rivaldinho. In March the year old Rivaldo retired, though he remained with the club as its president. The next year he shortly came out of retirement to help the struggling Mogi Mirim.

Rivaldo was a strong, highly qualified, and prolific goal-scorer recognized for his dribbling skill, use of feints, bending free kicks, penalty taking, and overhead kicks. He is predominantly left-footed but he could also strike the ball with both feet. He played primarily as an attacking midfielder and occasionally as a second striker. In some occurrences, he also played as a wide midfielder or as a winger.

He is one of the best-attacking midfielders and had won many competitions for both his clubs and his country by netting and creating goals as well. Despite his noticeable striking aptitude, many critics believed Rivaldo could have been even better. At the times he seemed to lack control while hitting headers in traffic, and he was not as effective as other players inside the penalty area. Sometimes he was also disparaged for his individual style of play.

In the changing room, he once said to coach Luis Van Gaal that he no longer wanted to play on the left-wing. Because his career had been anything but an easy route, and he had undergone a lot of sufferings on the way, he felt that he had the right to make some demands.

Though his hip may not be as stable and his feet may not be as quick as they were in his prime, he's still spent the last few years of his career dancing circles around even the most sprightly of players in Brazil.

Having grown up in poverty, Rivaldo's remarkable rags to riches tale is inspirational, and one that sums up the determined, focused, passionate way he used to play the game. After signing his first professional contact at just 16 years of age for Paulistano, Rivaldo moved on to 14 different clubs and scored over goals in his extraordinary career. Rivaldo was an ever-present for Barcelona from , inspiring two La Liga titles and winning individual honours galore, but it was at the World Cup in where the midfielder really showed his class.

Alongside Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, Rivaldo electrified the world in Japan and South Korea and led Brazil to their fifth, and last, World Cup with five goals and endless top-drawer performances.

His retirement marks the end of an era, but the amazing contribution he's had to football means he can now sit with his talented feet up and say: "job done! See you next time! Hugs from Rio de Janeiro!

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Rivaldo also inspired a character at the Japonese animated series Captain Tsubasa. In the series, Rivaul Rivaldo is the star of the team in which the main character Oliver Tsubasa starts to play, but in the same position!

When Van Gaal left Spain for the first time, the media including Rivaldo celebrated his departure. Romildo had always encouraged his son to pursue his footballing dream and his death was a massive personal blow to Rivaldo who was planning to begin his professional career at that time. Reports reveal she has been a housekeeper all her life.

Also, a sister named Cristiane Ferreira Diniz. Just like Didier Drogba , Rivaldo never played any youth football. He was also a late starter in his career.

He started playing football in the year at age In , he switched local allegiances and moved to Palmeiras, helping the club successfully defend its league championship that same year. Before the Olympics, Parma announced that they had signed Rivaldo and his teammate Amaral from Palmeiras. In , he won another La Liga title with Barcelona.

His marital issues was also a reason why he left Milan. Rivaldo decided to return to Brazil in early , by appointment of coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo who convinced him to discard all European proposals. On 22 July , Rivaldo returned again to Europe, joining Olympiacos.

He scored 43 goals in 81 games for Olympiacos. He was released by Olympiacos after a dispute with the chairman of the club who claimed he was too old to continue with the club. He left and went on to play for a host of smaller clubs before owning his own clubs. The rest, as they say, is now history. We strive for accuracy and fairness while delivering the Biography of Classic Footballers.