Former Brazil superstar Ronaldinho has announced a sensational comeback to professional football 11 years after retiring, signing with Italian Serie C side Ravenna with the goal of scoring “a 300th goal.”

The 46-year-old, who won the 2002 World Cup and the 2005 Ballon d’Or, was unveiled on Thursday on a beach in Ravenna, ending a glittering career that last saw him play an official match for Fluminense in September 2015.

“I’m very happy to be here with friends, we have a team that can do something good,” Ronaldinho told reporters.
“Will you see me play? I don’t know, only the coach knows that. Coming back to Italy is wonderful, I’m here to help my teammates win.
“As you can see, I’m in shape, I feel good. If I could score my 300th goal, that would be even more beautiful.”

The comeback was first announced in June on the sidelines of the World Cup in Miami by Ignazio Cipriani, an Italian-American businessman who has owned Ravenna since 2024.

Cipriani said Ronaldinho’s mission is “romantic” and insisted it was not just for publicity.
“His objective is romantic, to try to score his last goal,” Cipriani said on Thursday.
“His involvement is not a token gesture or a marketing stunt to get people talking about us.”

The former Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and AC Milan playmaker will also become a shareholder in the club. He scored 33 goals in 97 appearances for Brazil during his career.

Cipriani confirmed that Ronaldinho will not feature against Reggiana in Monday’s Serie C season opener.
Ravenna finished third in Group B of last season’s third division and are targeting a return to Serie B for the first time since 2008.

For Ronaldinho, the move marks a return to Italian football more than a decade after his stint with AC Milan between 2008 and 2011.

The Nigerian Wrestling Federation (NWF) has announced plans to establish a training camp in Iowa State University in the U.S., in preparation for the forthcoming 2026 World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.

This is contained in a statement  by the Federation on Sunday in Abuja confirming that the President of the NWF, Bashir Adeniyi, had given the nod to establish the camp in the U.S. ahead of the World Wrestling Championships scheduled for Oct. 24 to Nov. 1.

The camp will bring together Nigerian wrestlers based in different parts of the U.S., providing opportunity for them to train collectively ahead of the Championship.

The statement stated that Some of Nigeria’s top wrestlers currently studying in the U.S. will have the opportunity to undergo effective training at the camp, while several home-based wrestlers with valid US visas will also join the training programme.

The NWF also added that the camp will also be opened to new talents willing to join the national wrestling team.

“Nigerian-born athletes residing in the U.S. who are eligible and willing to represent Nigeria will have the opportunity to participate in the training programme, providing a platform for identifying and integrating talented wrestlers of Nigerian descent into the national team setup,” the statement added.

Reacting to the development, Nigeria’s Women’s Wrestling coach Purity Akuh, thanked the federation for the initiative.

“I sincerely thank the NWF President,  Adeniyi for this initiative,” he said.

“Opportunities such as the Iowa training camp are important for exposing Nigerian wrestlers to world-class facilities, high-level competition, and some of the best athletes and coaches in the sport,” Purity said

• As FIFA backs NFF Sept elections’ cancellation

With the Ibrahim Gusau-led administration of Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, recording unpardonable failures since taking office, and one of the most painful being Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The failure was despite Nigeria having a large pool of established players and an expanded African allocation for the 2026 World Cup.

The Super Falcons’ elimination from the African playoff for the 2027 World Cup by the Banyana Banyana of South Africa, in Morocco,
the corruption among other ills associated with football administration forced the National Sports Commission to act, to redeem the game in Nigeria.

The National Sports Commission’s (NSC) immediate step was to cancell the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) electoral congress, which was scheduled to hold on September 27 in Lafia, Nasarawa State, to pave the way for a thorough reorganisation of the federation.

This move has severely jolted the Ibrahim Gusau-led executive committee, which was bidding for a second term in office, having taken the mantle four years ago.

In the interim, the NSC is set to name a “normalisation committee” to run the nation’s football affairs for three months.

The NSC was said to have got the permission of the World Football governing body (FIFA) after it assured the embattled President Gianni Infantino of Nigeria’s support in his re-election bid.

The NSC is said to have also reached out to the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Patrice Motsepe.

With Gusau off the line, the NSC’s initial move to allegedly bring in the former President of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick, was said to be rejected by the Presidency.

Reports indicated that the Presidency has given the NSC the approval to announce the normalisation committee within 48 hours. It was not clear who the NSC will finally pick to head the committee.

The normalisation committee, which will be in charge of the nation’s football for three months, is expected to prepare the ground for a new NFF election, including taking care of the grey areas many stakeholders including, Chief Segun Odegbami, had complained about.