CELEBRITY
SUBSTITUTION? RONALDINHO OUT, MAGUIRE GETS INTO PRISON
Almost like substitution in standard football match, former Brazil football star, Ronadinho who been detained in Paraguay for five months arrived home the same day another high profile footballer, England’s Harry Maguire was handed a suspended prison term, also in a foreign land, Greece.
The prison sentence of Maguire has already cost him a place in the England squad just called up. Ronaldinho on the other hand, arrived home in Brazil on a private jet on Tuesday after more than five months in detention in Paraguay over a fake passport scandal.
Part of the detention was in prison. The former Ballon d’Or winner arrived at Rio de Janeiro’s international airport from Paraguay’s capital Asuncion just before 4.30pm local time.
A judge on Monday released Ronaldinho, 40, and his brother, who had both been held for a month in jail and another four months under house arrest in a hotel in Asuncion.
The brothers arrived in Paraguay on March 4 because Ronaldinho was due to take part in an event in support of disadvantaged children.
However, two days later, the pair were taken into police custody when investigators raided their hotel following the discovery they had fake documents.
The former World Cup winner is now “free to travel to whatever country in the world he wants but he must inform us if he changes his permanent residence” for a period of one year, the judge said.
“He has no restrictions except for the fulfilment of reparations for damage to society.”
Dressed in jeans, a black beret and black shirt at Monday’s court hearing, Ronaldinho accepted the terms of his release, which include payment of US$90,000 (S$120,000) in damages.
His brother Roberto de Assis Moreira, who is also Ronaldinho’s business manager, must pay US$110,000.
The judge stressed that he was not issuing a “definitive dismissal” of the case but that Ronaldinho was benefitting from a “conditional suspension of the procedure.”
His brother was given a two-year suspended sentence.
‘VILELY DECEIVED’?
Prosecutors said they did not believe Ronaldinho took part in the plan to manufacture the fake Paraguayan passports but believed de Assis Moreira was aware that the passports were false.
“They flagrantly used a public document containing false content,” said Marcelo Pecci, one of the public prosecutors, who said it was a “very serious” offence.
Before Monday’s trial the public prosecutor said that Ronaldinho displayed no “personal characteristics or criminal behavior that… would put society at risk.”
The defence issued a statement insisting on the innocence of both brothers, saying “the people they trusted deceived them vilely.”
After being held in a police station in Asuncion, where Ronaldinho celebrated his 40th birthday on March 21, the two men had been under house arrest in a luxury hotel, on bail of US$1.6 million.
The investigation has since expanded into a case of possible money laundering and criminal association.
Some 18 people have been arrested in connection with the case, most of them immigration officials or police officers.
Ronaldinho, considered one of the greatest footballers of all time, was crucial in Brazil’s 2002 World Cup win.
He played for European giants such as Barcelona, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain during a hugely successful 10-year stint in Europe.
He won the Champions League and two La Liga titles with Barcelona and Serie A with Milan.
After returning home to Brazil he won the Copa Libertadores – South America’s equivalent of the Champions League – with Atletico Mineiro.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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