By Victor Kanayo
Brazil legend Ronaldo has joined the bid for the presidency of the country’s football association.
According to the football legend, his major aim will be to “recover the prestige” of the national team.
Already, Ronaldo has sold his stake in La Liga side Real Valladolid to pursue his target of leading the country’s soccer federation.
The 48-year-old, who was capped 98 times, will run as a candidate to replace the current Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) president Ednaldo Rodrigues.
Brazil, record five-time winners of the World Cup, last won the competition in 2002 and have not progressed further than the quarter-final stage since then.
“For many decades, Brazilian football has always been the escape route for the Brazilian people when they faced daily problems,” Ronaldo told Globo Esporte.
“This was the fuel of the Brazilian people, and today we see a total lack of interest from the population in the national team.
“Among hundreds of things that motivate me to become a candidate for president of the CBF is to recover this prestige and respect that the national team has always had and that no one else has today.”
Rodrigues’ term runs until March 2026, and the presidential elections must take place in the 12 months before then.
Ronaldo, a World Cup winner in 1994 and 2002, is second on the competition’s all-time top scorer list behind Germany’s Miroslav Klose, with 15 goals in 19 appearances.
The former Real Madrid striker’s international career spanned 17 years and included two Copa America titles and an Olympic bronze medal.
Brazil have won the Copa America only once since Ronaldo’s international retirement in 2011 and were knocked out of the 2022 World Cup by Croatia in the quarter-finals.
