Ronaldinho’s career is officially over, according to his brother and agent, Roberto Assis.
The Brazil and Barcelona legend has not played a competitive professional fixture since 2015 but he never announced he had hung up his boots for good.
Assis told Brazilian media on Tuesday, though, that Ronaldinho’s storied career “is over,” via the Evening Standard‘s Tom Doyle.
Per Doyle, Assis added that after the 2018 FIFA World Cup in the summer, farewell matches for the 37-year-old should be scheduled.
Ronaldinho hinted back in December that he was likely to officially call it a day in 2018, per FourFourTwo.
Given that he played just two matches before departing the Indian Futsal League in July 2016 and left Brazilian side Fluminense in September 2015, his retirement is hardly a surprise.
The famed playmaker left Fluminense less than three months into an 18-month deal and—apart from his brief futsal spell—has since appeared only in various exhibition matches.
The confirmation of his retirement officially brings the curtain down on a stellar career from one of the game’s great entertainers.
Though Ronaldinho has been far from his best for much of the last decade he was truly outstanding for most of the 2000s, when he won two La Liga titles and the 2005-06 UEFA Champions League with Barcelona and the 2002 World Cup with Brazil.
He also won the Ballon d’Or in 2005 and the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2004 and 2005.
Ronaldinho bows out of football as a legend of the game having plied his trade at Gremio, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, AC Milan, Flamengo, Atletico Mineiro, Queretaro and Fluminense.
