Brazilian club Cruzeiro became the first club in the country to become a corporate entity from a non-profit one. Recently, the Brazilian Congress sanctioned a law that will allow football clubs, historically fan-owned and closed off to outside investors, to become businesses.
Former Brazil World Cup winning player Ronaldo has bought Cruzeiro, who now plays in the second division. Cruzeiro along with Sao Paulo, Flamengo and Santos were one of four Brazilian clubs never to be relegated from the top-flight until December 2019 when they were relegated to the second division.
According to media reports in South America, English club Liverpool’s owners’ FSG had also made an offer to buy the club. But they were beaten by Ronaldo who bought his former club. He played there during the 1993-94 season.
Ronaldo buys his former club Cruzeiro ahead of Liverpool owners’ FSG
Ronaldo declared: “I am so happy to have completed this deal.“
“I have a lot to give back to Cruzeiro and I want to take the club back to where they deserve to be.”
“We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
“I ask the fans to reconnect to the club, go to the stadium, because we are going to need a lot of strength and unity.”
“We have a lot of work and ambition to make Cruzeiro great again. We have nothing to celebrate yet, but we have a lot of ambition.”
Ronaldo also owns the Spanish second division club, Real Valladolid. He bought 51 per cent of the shares in 2018 for £25million. He has now two clubs under his portfolio.
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