By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Caption: Brazil legend Ronaldo has announced he will run for the presidency of the country’s football association and wants to “recover the prestige” of the national team. Photo Credit: FIFA.
Former Brazil striker Ronaldo will run for the presidency of the country’s football confederation (CBF), the 48-year-old said on Monday.
Ronaldo, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994 and 2002, will run as a candidate in the CBF elections to replace current president Ednaldo Rodrigues in 2026.
“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 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 once since Ronaldo’s international retirement in 2011 and were knocked out of the 2022 World Cup by Croatia in the quarter-finals.