“He Called Me the Michael Jordan of Soccer”: When Ronaldo Nazario Revealed That His Greatest Compliment Ever Came From His Airness

Brazillian soccer legend Ronaldo Nazario once recalled how NBA legend Michael Jordan called him the MJ of the soccer world.

Ronaldo Nazario has one of the saddest stories in football history. He started his career off in Brazil with Cruzeiro, for whom he knocked in 44 goals in 47 appearances as a teenager. This led to his selection to the Brazil national team for their World Cup win in 1994.

Though he didn’t appear in a single game at that tournament, Nazario’s stock had risen quite significantly. Dutch football giants PSV Eindhoven picked him up as a 17-year-old for their roster. This is where Ronaldo made his first mark in European football.

After 2 years of dominating the Eredivisie, Ronaldo earned a world record transfer to Spanish giants Barcelona. In his sole season with Barca, Ronaldo won them the La Liga trophy with a whopping 34-goal tally.

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Inter Milan successfully made another world-record transfer for the youngster, who won World Player of the Year honors in the past year. But it was at Inter during his third season that Ronaldo suffered a debilitating knee injury.

He rushed back to the field after a rather hasty recovery, which proved to be a bad decision as another knee injury kept him out of action for nearly 2 years.

However, Ronaldo resurrected himself with a dominant performance for Brazil at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He had 8 goals in 7 games to lead them to a 5th World Cup win.

Nazario never returned to his former heights as a player, but he continued to play pro soccer until his retirement in 2011.

Ronaldo Nazario recalls how MJ called him the ‘Michael Jordan of soccer’

Both Ronaldo and Michael Jordan endorsed sportswear giants Nike during their heyday. Ronaldo’s peak with Barcelona coincided with the second threepeat won by Michael Jordan with the Bulls.

In a 2021 interview with Marca, Ronaldo revealed a compliment that His Airness gave him when they met. This meeting took place at Nike’s Beaverton headquarters in Oregon.

“He said to me ‘you are the Michael Jordan of soccer’. I thought ‘wow, that’s a big compliment’.”

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The compliment really must’ve meant a lot to the Brazilian legend. After all, Michael Jordan is the man who’s used as the yardstick for sporting greatness across sports.

Much like Jordan and his own namesake Cristiano, Ronaldo is also a lifetime Nike athlete.