In this blog post we taking a look at some of the best football shirts the legend Ronaldinho wore throughout his career!
1999 Grêmio
Ronaldinho's career began with the Grêmio youth squad. He made his senior debut during the 1998 Copa Libertadores BUT it wasn’t until 1999 when we saw the real emergence of the 18-year-old Ronaldinho with 22 goals in 47 matches!
The set of kits he was wearing that year are just 90s perfection, made by Penalty, the Home is a traditional blue and black striped shirt with white accents. With the away being a more simple white with blue shoulder, but would feature centralised logos.
Ronaldinho really put in some headline displays for Gremio. For example in derbies against Internacional, most notably on 20th June 1999 in the Rio Grande do Sul State Championship final. Ronaldinho embarrassed Brazilian legend and 1994 World Cup winning captain Dunga, flicking the ball over his head on one occasion, and leaving him flat-footed in a mazy dribble on another. He also achieved further success with Grêmio, winning the inaugural Copa Sul. Really putting his name on the map.
2001/02 PSG
Ronaldinho’s first move to Europe was to PSG signing for a fee of €5 million in 2001.
What a shirt this is... PSG are known for stylish shirts and this is one of the best. It’s quite simple but works so well. This kit was actually a bit of a break away from tradition at PSG.
click here to see our PSG kits
The shirt went from the traditional blue to a darker blue tone and also instead of a centralised red stripe going down the front of the shirt it was moved over to the side behind the badge. Both these changes helping this shirt stand out above the rest.
Ronaldinho started slow at PSG making his league on 4 August 2001 coming on as a substitute and spending the first half of the season alternating between the bench and starter. But after the winter break he returned to the form we know him for and started scoring more constantly.
Brazil 2002
In the summer of 2002 Ronaldinho participated in his first World Cup, as part of an incredible offensive unit with Ronaldo and Rivaldo, dubbed the "Three Rs". What a team.
He scored 2 goals an got 3 assists with his most memorable match in Ronaldinho's World Cup career took place in the quarter-final against England. (of course)
Brazil were trailing after Michael Owen's 23-minute strike, but it was Ronaldinho who turned the game around. Having received the ball inside his own half, Ronaldinho ran at the England defence and wrong footed Ashley Cole with a trademark step over before passing the ball to Rivaldo on the edge of the penalty area to score the equalising goal just before half-time.
Then, in the 50th minute, Ronaldinho took a free-kick from 40 yards out which curled into the top left corner of the net. Pure class.
click here to see our Brazil 2002 home kit
The kit itself will always be remembered for that great World Cup win but also it's just a great early 2000s kit. It’s of course one of the Total 90 Nike templates, a design which has become a classic in recent times, with a basic yellow background with bold green panels on the side of the shirt.
2004/05 Barcelona
In 2003 newly elected Barcelona president Joan Laporta stated, "I said we would lead Barça to the forefront of the footballing world, and for that to occur we had to sign one of these three players, David Beckham, Thierry Henry or Ronaldinho" Henry remained with Arsenal, Beckham went to Real Madrid so Barcelona outbid Manchester United to sign Ronaldinho for €30 Million
He had a decent first year with Barca, scoring some important goals with Xavi crediting him with the start of the Barcelona rise. But the shirt/season I wanted to talk about is the 2004/05 Season.
This season was huge for both Ronaldinho and Barcelona. That year he won his first league title and was also named FIFA World Player of the Year. His captain Carles Puyol, stated, "The greatest compliment I could give him is that he's given Barcelona our spirit back. He has made us smile again."
Another special thing happened in the 04/05 season. On the 1st of May 2005, Ronaldinho made the assist for a young Lionel Messi's first goal for Barcelona, executing a scooped pass over the defence for Messi to finish. I wonder what he went on to do?
Ronaldinho’s signing was huge for Barcelona and it set them on course for absolute domination. All this magic played in another total 90 classic nike template. This is a beautiful Barcelona shirt with the beauty hidden within the simplicity. Traditional Barcelona stripes in the middle broken up by bold block panels on the sleeves.
click here to see our 2004/05 Barcelona shirt
2009/10 AC Milan
And finally that last shirt I’m going to talk about on this list is the 2009/10 AC Milan shirt. In July 2008, Ronaldinho turned down a £25.5 million offer from Manchester City and joined Serie A giants AC Milan who by the 2009/10 season had assembled one of the greatest football teams
Ronaldinho was playing with stars like Pato, Gattuso, Inzahgi, Seedorf, Nesta, Pirlo, Thiago Silva and David Beckham.
This was the team you wanted to play with on Fifa - and the shirt resembled that same level of class.
Traditional thin red and black stripes cascading across the front, classic adidas 3 stripes over the shoulder all complimented with a sexy white with red accents collar. Classy
click here to see our AC Milan shirts
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