Ronaldo (R), owner of Cruzeiro, has tested positive for COVID-19. /CFP
Brazilian football icon Ronaldo has tested positive for COVID-19, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube announced on Sunday.
The former star missed the club's 101st anniversary party on Sunday due to the test result. Cruzeiro revealed that he showed slight symptoms.
Ronaldo became Cruzeiro's owner after acquiring 90 percent of the club's shares for 400 million reais (about $70 million). Twenty-nine years ago, 17-year-old Ronaldo made his professional debut in Cruzeiro.
Having played in four FIFA World Cups and won two of them for Brazil, Ronaldo was considered one of the best strikers in the world at his peak. His record of scoring 15 goals in the World Cup was only broken by Miroslav Klose of Germany in 2014.
Ronaldo (#9) of Brazil celebrates after winning the FIFA World Cup championship in Yokohama in Japan, June 30, 2002. /CFP
Back in 2002, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos made the most dominant combination in football history and led Brazil to beat every opponent they met in the World Cup in Japan and South Korea to win football's top honor.
As a three-time FIFA World Player of the Year, which was the top individual honor for a football player before it was subsumed into the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010, Ronaldo scored 62 goals in 98 games for Brazil, winning two World Cups, two Copa America titles and one FIFA Confederations Cup championship.
Ronaldo played for seven clubs in his career and scored 352 goals in 518 games before retiring in 2011. The two goals he scored for Barcelona against SD Compostela in 1996 were two of the most-played ones in any top football goal highlights in the 2000s.