At a time when Alexia Putellas would never have been able to win the Ballon d’Or (especially since the women’s category did not yet exist), the name of Megan Rapinoe would not ring a bell and female referees still did not whistle in men’s competitions, our first great approach to women’s soccer came with her. Although she had to put up with being better known as “Ronaldinha” for being married to the great star of the first division at that time, Milene Domingues caused a sensation when she arrived in Spain in 2002 after the signing of Ronaldo by Real Madrid.
Record in touching the ball
Although we are used to seeing soccer players dating models and influencers, there was a time when the greatest soccer idol was married to another guild mate. Milene Domingues began at the age of 14 entertaining the spectators during the breaks of the matches by touching the ball. From there she would make the leap to her first club, Corinthians, from her hometown and in 1997 until entered the record book for giving 55,197 touches to a ball (something that took him nine hours and six minutes).
However, popularity came to him when, in 1999, he married Ronaldo who, at that time, played for Inter Milan and was considered one of the best soccer players in the world. They were married for four years and, although this made the general public interested for the first time in anything related to women’s football, it also doomed her to become popularly known.”Ronaldinha”.
Milene found this nickname ugly, going so far as to ask the press to call her by her first name Mika since “Zidane’s wife is not called Zidana”. Years later, she would explain in an interview with GQ that even in the clubs where she played she lThey always gave her the number 9, the same one her then-husband worealthough she did not play as a forward but as a midfielder.
First foreigner in the Spanish league
In Italy, he played for ASD Fiammamonza, in the women’s Serie A, but when he moved to Madrid, he signed for Rayo Vallecano and thus became the first foreigner to play in the highest category of Spanish women’s footballsince until then the current regulations of the Royal Spanish Football Federation did not allow the participation of foreign players in official competitions.
It was for this reason that, from 2002 to 2004, he had to limit himself to participating in friendly matches (and announcing the Dhul puddings) but, after pressure from his club, the change in regulations allowed him to play official matches in our country. Thus, in January 2004 she made her debut in the women’s Super League.
In addition to Rayo Vallecano, he would play with the shirts of AD Torrejón, CF Pozuelo for women and the Brazilian women’s team, with whom he participated in the 2003 World Cup in the United States. However, at the beginning of 2009 he retired due to a knee injury that lasted his last years as a footballer. However, he has gone over to the side of the commentators and It is closely linked to Brazilian women’s soccer.
He has also participated in several television programs such as Look who is dancing! and has collaborated in programs such as The spar de la SER, in addition to working as a model for various brands. Personally, she has a son from her marriage to Ronaldo, named Ronald, she is living in her 40s and calls himself a buddhist.
Cover photo | @milenedomingues
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