He made his debut 23 years ago, and this Wednesday Cristiano Ronaldo turns 40 – and he is still on the ball, not only in Saudi Arabia but also for Portugal. About the superstar’s importance far beyond the pitch.
So that’s how it is, it’s been that way for a long time. This career spans generations, not only in football, and thus decades. A life well lived. To grasp that literally, it’s advisable to leaf through your own photo album. They actually still existed back then. So: What did you look like? Where were you back then, professionally, privately, in which city, in which country, by which river did you live?
20 years ago, or even more. Cristiano Ronaldo made his professional debut 23 years ago, in August 2002. Germany had just lost the World Cup final in Japan, almost became world champion under Rudi Völler, now sports director of the DFB, then team manager. Chancellor was Gerhard Schröder. Angela Merkel, only seemingly eternal like Ronaldo, was not yet. Different times.
“His significance is mainly symbolic”
Times when someone in Portugal’s capital Lisbon caught the attention of someone who, as talented as he was determined, would become the best goal scorer in football history. Okay, at least in modern times. Although… Goalgetter or not, five-time world footballer or not, anthropologist Daniel Seabra, a professor at the University Fernando Pessoa, says: “His significance is mainly symbolic.”
With this, the 56-year-old does not want to deny the super goal getter, with 450 goals the most successful goal scorer in the history of Real Madrid, which is not exactly lacking in history, and world record holder in international matches and goals (135 in 217 appearances), his footballing significance, which is undisputed anyway. His record-breaking and title-winning exploits with illustrious clubs such as Manchester United, the Real Madrid team in particular, and also Juventus Turin have long since become legendary.
Seabra, who is also the coordinator of an observatory for violence in sport, refers to the concept of “reflected glory” used in social psychology: “It is not only Cristiano Ronaldo who wins all these titles and trophies. We Portuguese win with him, so we win too.” That is the essential thing in all the celebration of records and glorious goals. The still-footballer, who turns 40 on Wednesday, has been offering the opportunity to dream and, above all, a real chance for identification ‘like in a fairy tale’ for two decades: ”You can rise from the smallest of circumstances and still make it to the top. And if you haven’t made it into adulthood yourself, you have the opportunity to succeed through your children by signing them up to a club.”