Like one of his famous free-kicks, which could change direction unpredictably, Roberto Carlos’s life suddenly took another turn. Those fearsome free-kicks that made him famous around the world have now given way to a very different reality: a financial catastrophe that the Brazilian legend himself has spoken about. Fake friends, dishonest agents and cunning relatives emptied his bank accounts. Roberto Carlos was left without a penny.
Faced with this bitter chapter of his life, the portrait of the “eternal boy” — now 53 years old — has also changed. He appears to have aged suddenly. Once football’s big kid, with his permanent smile and the face of a boy who never seemed to grow up, he enjoyed every moment on the pitch. Today, after years of running tirelessly down the left flank, he appears to be standing beneath a sky filled with dark clouds, where the storms never seem to end.
TROPHIES AND CHILDREN
And now, take a deep breath: 11 officially recognised children with seven women, two marriages and two photo memories with his chosen partners; eight teams for which he played as a footballer and five others that he managed as a coach, without success; 25 trophies in his cabinet, including three Champions League titles won with Real Madrid and the World Cup with Brazil; 125 appearances for the Seleção, second in the history of the national team behind Cafu; 137 km/h, the speed recorded from one of his famous free-kicks in the friendly between France and Brazil in Lyon in 1997; 11 years in Madrid, where he was wanted by Fabio Capello; 527 appearances in a Real Madrid shirt, more than any other footballer born outside Spain; three World Cups played in 1998, 2002 and 2006, while there were far more tears over the one he did not play in 1994, when Brazil’s coach preferred Branco; three toes on his left foot with which he struck the ball to give it the most unpredictable effects; he was 12 years old when, born into poverty in Garça, in the state of São Paulo, he began working in a textile factory; Moratti spent 10 billion lire in 1995 to bring him to Inter; and he earned €9 million per season on the two-and-a-half-year contract he managed to secure from Anzhi owner Suleyman Kerimov when, at the age of 38, he decided to move there.
RONALDO THE PHENOMENON
And the list goes on: 30 seconds of anguish that froze his blood when, after waking up to the sound of groans and being the first to get out of bed, he realised that his great friend Ronaldo Nazário, the Phenomenon, was not well. No, it was not an epileptic seizure, as was speculated at the time. The incident happened on the eve of the 1998 World Cup final between France and Brazil.
He was 42 when he ended his career, after 24 years in professional football; in his prime, he needed less than 11 seconds to cover 100 metres; one unforgettable assist in Champions League history was the one he provided for Zinedine Zidane’s spectacular volley against Bayer Leverkusen on the night Real Madrid lifted the trophy.
He was 15 years old when, according to a serious allegation made by German broadcaster ARD, he began using doping substances to “increase” his muscle mass under the supervision of Brazilian doctor Julio Cesar Alves, one of the most talked-about names in Brazilian sports medicine at the time. He denied all the allegations and threatened legal action, but the matter eventually faded away without having to go to court.
And finally, €160 million — the amount Roberto Carlos says he earned during his football career and which, according to his account, disappeared from his bank account.
Poof! Like a cloud of smoke, leaving behind only traces of an unbelievable story: from a champion who had accumulated immense wealth at the top of the game to a man who was left without a penny.
FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES
At the beginning of 2025, reports circulated that, precisely when he was separating from his second wife and was looking for a new place to live, Roberto Carlos had asked Real Madrid to allow him to use a room at the club’s training ground.
The Brazilian immediately denied the report, with an anger that left little room for doubt. But now it is Carlos himself who has spoken about the serious financial difficulties that have placed him in an entirely unexpected situation.
He has always managed to find a solution and, surely, he will manage to do so this time as well.
During his Real Madrid days, Roberto Carlos regularly attended parties organised by his friend Ronaldo. The two have known each other since 1992, when they were still two young men dreaming of football glory.
One of those nights at the Phenomenon’s villa remains unforgettable. Real Madrid players, together with their wives, partners and fiancées, were enjoying drinks at sunset when a bus appeared at the gate, honking its horn and asking to be let in.
There were around ten women on the bus, specially invited by the Phenomenon.
Roberto Carlos recalled humorously: “I have slept more nights with him than with my two wives.”
Later, Real Madrid teammates revealed that, finding themselves in a somewhat awkward situation — after all, they were there with their wives — almost all of them left, quickly saying goodbye to those present and departing before the party turned into complete chaos.
The only ones who stayed, somewhat astonished, were Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos.
But this is where we enter the realm of unverifiable legend: the two were not intimidated and, despite being outnumbered, with an “admirable sense of duty”, they took the “match” all the way into extra time.
THE LEFT FOOT
We were talking earlier about his lightning strike. The ball struck with his left foot, that lethal leg emerging from a pair of heavily trained thighs, as hard as marble, with record-breaking dimensions: his thigh circumference ranged from 66 to 68 centimetres, from one leg to the other.
Years after that famous free-kick in Lyon, a team of French physicists attempted to analyse the power of the strike, gravity, air resistance, even the dynamics of bullets and a series of other factors, in a desperate attempt to uncover the secret behind that extraordinary shot.
But even science eventually surrendered in the face of the facts.
The secret behind that free-kick remained undiscovered.
One of the many mysteries surrounding Roberto Carlos.
