Two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Ronaldinho, was arrested in Paraguay a few days ago. Ronaldinho is jailed in the capital city of Paraguay together with his brother, accused that they were trying to cross the Brazil-Paraguay border with falsified passports.

According to some sources, Ronaldinho was looking for business opportunities in this country and he was completely unaware that his traveling documents were falsified.

In troubles with the law in 2019

Apparently, this was not the first time for one of the best players in the early 2000s to break the law. It all started in 2019 in his homeland Brazil where former Barcelona and Milan football star owned 57 properties. The government has seized all his properties since he didn’t pay a fine for building a pier at his house by the lake in Porto Alegre without a permit a few years before that.

This was a harsh environmental fine that Ronaldinho was not willing to pay. In addition, he had other debts including council taxes that were left unpaid too. The famous footballer vowed to continue his legal battle, but the authorities have confiscated his Spanish and Brazilian passports. That’s probably why he asked for a Paraguayan passport along with his brother.

Is Ronaldinho guilty?

We will have to wait for a while to get an answer to this question. What’s known so far is that Ronaldinho and his brother are held in jail in Asuncion. They were arrested by the border officials who noticed that their documents were falsified.

However, the lawyer of Roberto Assis and Ronaldinho claims that the brothers were unaware of this issue. It turns out that Ronaldinho started a procedure to get a passport in Paraguay not while ago. He claims that a few government officials were taking care of this procedure. However, the government of Paraguay has arrested those three officials involved in the process.

Another thing that goes in Ronaldinho’s favor is that he was traveling to a charity event at least officially. On the other hand, there are rumors that he was looking for business opportunities in this South American country and charity events like this are a good place to find this type of opportunity.

The latest news that comes from Paraguay reveals that the prosecutor is investigating a few more possible crimes committed by Ronaldinho. Of course, the football player denies all accusations. At this moment, he is jailed in a maximum security prison with his brother and he has already spent a few nights in jail.

In theory, the authorities should complete the inquiry in less than six months. However, it might be possible for Ronaldinho to leave jail before that because he has already requested to be transferred to home arrest. In addition, the player has offered some of his properties as a form of warranty.

What makes this request interesting is the fact that Brazil doesn’t extradite its citizens. So, if Ronaldinho goes back to Brazil, he doesn’t have to go back to Paraguay where he will probably face a trial. On the other hand, if he stays in Brazil, he risks more of his assets to be seized by the government. This is a very inconvenient situation for the former star of the Brazil national football team.

The glorious days of this football player are over. He was known as a football wizard due to his exceptional skills and bold moves on the field. Now, he is struggling to keep the fortune he earned as a player back in those days and he will need more than football skills and talent for that.