"Ronaldo's team" returns to the first division
Cruzeiro club, owned by former international star Ronaldo, guaranteed its return to the Brazilian Football League after its victory on Wednesday against another giant club, Vasco da Gama, in the second division.
Cruzeiro came out victorious in the match of the thirty-first stage in front of his fans, consolidating his lead in the general ranking by 23 points from fifth place, which allowed him to secure one of the first four places that qualified for the top-flight league.
Cruzeiro, who is supervised by the Uruguayan Paulo Pizzolano, will return to play in the senior league after he left in 2019.
Ronaldo, who bought 90% of the shares of the club that won the first division title four times, the last of which was in 2014 and the Copa Libertadores twice, most recently in 1997, commented, "We have worked very hard to achieve that".
At the end of 2021, Ronaldo announced that he had bought Cruzeiro, who gave the former “Celeciao” star his first professional opportunity.
And Globo Esporte reported that Ronaldo paid 400 million riyals (about 60 million euros) to become the biggest shareholder in the club.
Since 2018, Ronaldo has owned a controlling stake in Spanish club Valladolid, which was relegated to the second division last season, but returned this season to the "La Liga" league.
Ronaldo, who is from Rio de Janeiro, joined Cruzeiro, who is based in Belo Horizonte, in his professional debut in 1993 when he was 16 years old.
He scored 56 goals in 58 matches in the club's shirt, which opened the door for him to be part of the Brazil squad for the 1994 World Cup in the United States, where he won the winner's medal without playing any minute.
After the World Cup in which Brazil culminated in a penalty shootout at the expense of Italy, Cruzeiro sold Ronaldo to PSV Eindhoven before imposing himself as one of the best players in the world during his experiences in Spain and Italy with a Barcelona shirt, then Inter, Real Madrid and Milan.
And he returned to his country in 2009 to defend the colors of Corinthians, who retired from playing in its ranks in 2011.
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