Before Messi collected his eighth Ballon d'Or and before Ronaldo became a global brand bigger than most countries, there was Ronaldinho — and Netflix's new three-part documentary Ronaldinho: The One and Only makes a compelling case that we haven't fully appreciated what we lost when he faded.
The series debuted at number one on Netflix globally, which is a statement in itself. Documentaries about retired players from two decades ago don't typically top streaming charts. This one did, because Ronaldinho's story — the genius, the chaos, the implosion — is genuinely compelling television, not just football nostalgia.
What the documentary actually covers
Unlike the Apple TV+ Messi doc, which quietly skipped over inconvenient chapters, The One and Only doesn't shy away from the full arc. The rise through Barcelona. The 2002 World Cup winner's medal. Back-to-back FIFA World Player of the Year awards in 2004 and 2005. The Champions League title with Barça in 2006. And then the rapid, messy decline driven by reports of unprofessional behaviour — the kind that ends careers early.
Ronaldinho himself features prominently, alongside teammates who lived through those years with him. One of them is Lionel Messi, who has consistently cited Ronaldinho as his primary inspiration when he first broke into Barcelona's first team. That's not a throwaway compliment. Messi watched Ronaldinho up close every day and modelled his game accordingly.
The documentary includes the goal that beat England at the 2002 World Cup — still one of the stranger moments in tournament history — and the Clásico performance at the Bernabéu where he dismantled Real Madrid so thoroughly that opposition supporters gave him a standing ovation. That does not happen. It happened for Ronaldinho.
The Cristiano Ronaldo connection most people forget
Here's the detail that genuinely reframes things: when Ronaldinho chose Barcelona over Manchester United, he left a vacancy on United's wing. Sir Alex Ferguson filled it with an unknown 18-year-old from Sporting CP. That teenager was Cristiano Ronaldo.
No Ronaldinho choosing Barça, no Ronaldo at Old Trafford. The entire trajectory of the sport's last two decades shifts with one transfer decision.
Between 2003 and 2007, Ronaldinho was the best footballer on the planet by almost any measure. Then Cristiano Ronaldo won his first FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2008. Messi won it the following year. And just like that, Ronaldinho was a memory.
He burned short and bright — which is exactly what makes the documentary worth watching. Not every great story ends with longevity records and Champions League medals into your late thirties. Sometimes the best version of a player lasts four years, and then it's gone.
That's Ronaldinho. And for four years, nobody on earth played football like him.
