Former Brazilian football star Ronaldo Nazario, nicknamed “The Phenomenon”, confirmed that he will fulfill the promise he made to ride a bike for 500 kilometers, after his team, Valladolid, climbed to the Spanish League.
And Valladolid – owned by Ronaldo – will play in the Spanish first division next season, after finishing the second division in second place.
Ronaldo, who became the club’s majority shareholder in 2018, will cycle from Valladolid to Santiago de Compostela.
“To celebrate the rise of Valladolid live, I made a promise a long time ago, even when we landed in 2021,” Ronaldo said on the Twitch video broadcasting platform.
“I promised that I would cross Via Camino de Santiago (a network of pilgrims’ routes to the shrine of St. Jacob Ibn Zebedee in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela), if we go back to the first division. I will do it by bicycle because I cannot run.”
“My wife (Celine) and I will leave Valladolid on Sunday, and we will travel to Santiago de Compostela by bike,” Ronaldo explained.
UPA PUCELA, ALWAYS ????
WE ARE FIRST! @realvalladolid pic.twitter.com/CDNfaqwXfV— Ronaldo Nazario (@Ronaldo) May 29, 2022
Valladolid returned to the First Division after his first attempt at promotion, as he was relegated last season 2020-2021, and Ronaldo believes that this achievement can be compared to what he achieved in his career when he was a player.
The former striker led the Brazilian team to its fifth title in the World Cup in 2002, and won the Golden Boot award in Japan after scoring 8 goals in the tournament, including two goals in the final against the German national team.
Ronaldo won the Golden Ball as the best player in the world twice, in 1997 and 2002, and almost repeated the achievement several times, had it not been for the cruciate ligament injuries to the knee that followed him and negatively affected his physical fitness, forcing him later to leave the major European teams and return to Brazil before his final retirement in 2011.
The former Brazilian star was also distinguished by his high skills, and set a record by scoring more than 80 goals after evading goalkeepers.