Ronaldo, three-time FIFA Player of the Year and the top goalscorer in World Cup history, has announced his retirement, at age 34. The 2002 Brazilian world champion said his body can no longer meet the demands of the game and he revealed he learned four years ago he had hypothyroidism, a condition that made it difficult for him to lose weight and stay in shape.
"It's very hard to leave something that made me so happy," said Ronaldo, the star of Brazil's last World Cup winning team, in 2002, and a member of the 1994 World Cup-winning squad. "Mentally, I wanted to continue, but I have to acknowledge that I lost (the fight) to my body."
Ronaldo, who has a history of knee trouble, finished his career with Brazilian club Corinthians after starring at PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. The last of Ronaldo's more than 400 career goals came with a penalty kick in a 1-0 win over Cruzeiro in the Brazilian league on Nov. 13. His last game was the 2-0 Copa Libertadores loss to Deportes Tolima on Feb. 2 in Colombia.
"Ronaldo is the best player I ever played with," former Inter Milan teammate Youri Djorkaeff, who also played against Ronaldo in the 1998 World Cup final. "But he was also a very engaging person. When we were training, he would always come up with crazy dribbles. We would practically stop to watch him. It was extraordinary."
