Temporary modular stands will be erected to welcome Ronaldinho to Ravenna on Sunday, ready to be packed away afterwards like a takeaway pizza box.
Football as a lavish mausoleum celebrating glories from a distant past (although “Dinho” still boasts 80 million Instagram followers): a fitting tribute to the former Ballon d’Or winner and World Cup champion from Brazil.
Last summer, Ravenna, under Ignazio Cipriani – great-grandson of the Cipriani behind Hemingway’s beloved Harry’s Bar – brought him on board as an investor and shareholder.
Now the face of both his own brand and a Serie C club (second in Group B, where Spezia are flying high), Ronaldinho signed on as an investor and shareholder on the condition that he make at least one appearance on the pitch: symbolic, perhaps, but very much real.
And so the former Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and AC Milan star will play on Sunday at 5.30 pm, in the derby against Forlì.
Eleven years on
Eleven years after his last professional appearance for Fluminense, at the grand old age of 46 (club president Cipriani is eight years younger), the man with the most magnificent set of buck teeth in football history will pull on his shorts and shirt once again – both of which have been available to buy online from the club’s website for weeks.
For €129 (€49 for the shorts alone), fans can get their hands on a limited-edition piece of history: white, with the number – naturally, 10 – picked out in gold, just like the Ballon d’Or he once lifted.
The club has dubbed it Giallorossa Day, complete with the inevitable slogan: “The return in real”. Excitement has been building for months, culminating in an official announcement delivered by none other than mayor Alessandro Barattoni: yes, it is all true, the champion really is coming.
Arrested, then off to Miami
People had grown accustomed to seeing him in that deeply depressing advert for work boots, in which Ronaldinho kicks a ball around a square with a group of children who ask him for the name – not his own, which they clearly don't know, but the name of the boots themselves.
Perhaps it was time for a fresh dose of reality, provided it doesn't turn out to be even more depressing.
After a series of personal and legal troubles that culminated in his arrest in 2020 for entering Paraguay with forged documents, and the almost inevitable decline that befalls so many footballing greats when they suddenly find themselves out of the game, Dinho now lives in Miami.
It was there that he met Ignazio Cipriani and got drawn into this bizarre adventure, somewhere between fact and fantasy.
As it happens, half of Ravenna is owned by the Black Duck fund, bringing artificial intelligence into the mix – an ingredient no self-respecting story can do without these days.
Few seats, sky-high ticket prices
Journalists accredited from far and wide; tickets costing as much as €150 (in the R10 Stand, the temporary one, but complete with “hospitality service”); prices in the terraces rising from €13 to €30; Under-14 tickets jumping from €5 to €20, and Under-18 tickets from €7 to €25.
Nothing comes for free these days: one way or another, there’s always a profit to be made. Ordinary season tickets (2,640 of them) will not be valid, although holders can exercise their priority booking rights to make sure they don't miss the big day.
There are no more than 4,000 seats available. Away supporters can only make their way to Ravenna's stadium if they hold a Fidelity Card, as this fiercely contested fixture has been classified by the Sports Events Monitoring Committee as presenting “security risks”.
Ronaldinho Day
But just how many minutes will Ronaldinho play? Will he start or, more likely, come off the bench, perhaps once the result is already beyond doubt? (Last Saturday, Ravenna claimed a 3-1 away win at Vado, their third consecutive victory.)
Will he play virtually standing still, or will he at least attempt to break into a run? “I can't wait to dance with the ball again,” he said, sounding optimistic, at his summer unveiling on the beach at Marina di Ravenna.
In truth, this Ronaldinho Day feels a little like a pre-dinner party game, or – to borrow the words of Italian singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori – a sort of Peace and Goodness Circus, with a retired Buffalo Bill pretending to shoot at the Indians.
Whatever the case, anticipation is running high and excitement is in the air. Ronaldinho will arrive just 48 hours before pulling on the shirt for a brief but intense appearance under coach Mandorlini (himself one of Ravenna's former greats).
Ariedo Braida is also on board: the veteran AC Milan executive from the Silvio Berlusconi era is now Ravenna's vice-president.
From El Clásico against Real to the piada derby
So, the “Bruno Benelli” stadium, November 15: after the Camp Nou and San Siro, this will do just fine. Time waits for no one, after all.
And it is a perfectly good setting for a derby that may not be Real Madrid–Barcelona, or even AC Milan–Inter – two fixtures where our hero has already had his day – but Ravenna–Forlì: the ultimate piadina (traditional Romagna flatbread) showdown, with a little extra Ronaldinho on the side.
This article was reviewed by an external translation partner