There are moments in football so strange and unresolved that they seem to belong to fiction more than fact. The evening of July 12, 1998, at Stade de France is one of them.

A 21-year-old world star had arrived in Paris that summer not merely as a footballer, but a phenomenon — the most exciting player on the planet; he was inevitable, unstoppable. He had set the world alight with his talent, and it looked like the stage was set for him once again to take all the glory and cement his place on the throne of world football.

Brazil arrived in France ’98 as defending champions and clear favourites. With manager Mario Zagallo at the helm, a man who had been involved as player, coach or assistant in all four of Brazil’s previous World Cup wins, the Selecao carried the full weight of expectation. Yet the tournament wasn’t really about the team. It was about one man.

Ronaldo had spent the past two years laying the foundations of his legacy. After 47 goals in 49 appearances for Barcelona, he made a record-breaking move to Inter Milan and continued his domination. He was unstoppable in the air, devastating with the ball at his feet, terrifying at pace. He had won back-to-back FIFA World Player of the Year awards. French defender Marcel Desailly said: “Ronaldo was fantastic, a magician. We were all speechless when he touched the ball. The entire stadium held its breath. It was the first time I saw that.”

France ’98 was supposed to be his coronation, not that he needed one. He lit up the tournament with a brace against Chile and a goal in the semi-final against the Netherlands. Brazil booked their place in the final, and they were without doubt the favourites.

What Happened to Ronaldo In the 1998 World Cup Final?

Stuart Franklin / Action Images via REUTERS

The squad had lunch in their team hotel on the day of the final. Players returned to their rooms; everything seemed normal, like the big game later on in the evening would be a routine win. But, what happened next would send shock waves not just through the camp, but eventually through the entire footballing world.

Ronaldo collapsed in his room. Roberto Carlos had witnessed what followed: convulsions, foam at his mouth, the terrifying spectacle of his body in seizure. Team doctor Lidio Toledo was called immediately, and the room quickly filled with teammates and medical staff. Some players later recalled that Toledo wept when he arrived, although he later disputed this.

Toledo did, however, confirm the scene was severe; Ronaldo was breathing heavily, saliva collected around his mouth and he was momentarily unresponsive. Per a report in the Guardian, Roberto Carlos said:

He was rushed to the hospital for tests, and at 5pm, Zagallo had made the tough call: Edmundo would start the final. Ronaldo was out.

At 7:48pm, around one hour before kick-off, the official team sheet was submitted to FIFA. It all looked normal until the FIFA delegates read to the bottom of the list and realised there was no Ronaldo. When the news broke, confusion swept the stadium. Where was Ronaldo? John Motson had been commentating on the game for the BBC, and he was bewildered. He told CNN Sport:

Action Images / Stuart Franklin via REUTERS

But then came the twist. Ronaldo himself, having recovered from hospital tests and been told he wouldn’t play, refused to accept it. He went to Zagallo and the medical team, insisting he was fit. He begged to play. And who could say no to the best player in the world? He was back on the team sheet within an hour.

Ronaldo has since given his own account of waking up surrounded by teammates, not knowing where he was. He told FourFourTwo: “I decided to get some rest after lunch, and the last thing I remember was going to bed. After that, I had a convulsion. I was surrounded by players and the Dr Toledo was there. They didn’t want to tell me what was going on.

“I asked if they could leave and go talk somewhere else because I wanted to sleep. Then Leonardo asked me to go for a walk in the hotel and explained the whole situation. I was told that I wouldn’t play in the final.”

The Aftermath

Brazil lost 3-0. It was their heaviest World Cup defeat in 68 years. Zinedine Zidane scored twice in the first half with headers from corners. Emmanuel Petit added a third in injury time. The contest was never close. Ronaldo lasted the full 90 minutes but was a shade of himself, sluggish, disconnected from the player who had tormented defences all summer. He had one meaningful shot, straight at Barthez.

The fallout was enormous. Zagallo lost his job, and team doctors followed him out the door. And the mystery didn’t die quietly. A Brazilian parliamentary inquiry was launched. An investigation attempted to establish what had actually happened. Various theories surfaced: that Ronaldo had been given an injection of lidocaine, a local anaesthetic, for a recurring knee injury, and that it may have been administered incorrectly, causing the striker to have a reaction.

Others pointed to Ronaldo’s state of mind, suggesting a nervous breakdown brought on by the suffocating pressure of carrying an entire nation. It was also suggested that it was in the commercial interest of Nike, who had signed a huge deal with the Brazilian federation, for Ronaldo to start. Edmundo, who had been replaced when Ronaldo returned, said: “Nike’s people were there 24 hours a day, as if they were part of the technical staff. It’s a huge power.” Ronaldo himself has deflected the theories, maintaining that he was fit to play.

Action Images / Darren Walsh Digital via REUTERS

It wouldn’t put a dampener on his career for too long, as the striker returned to glory in 2002. Fighting knee injuries, missing the entire qualifying campaign. Ronaldo turned up to the 2002 World Cup with a unique haircut and a point to prove. He finished the tournament as top scorer, taking the golden boot and the World Cup trophy home, winning everything that fate had conspired to take from him in Paris four years earlier.

O Fenomeno had his redemption – and so did Brazil.

A football finance expert has provided a fresh update as the wait for a verdict on Manchester City’s alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules continues.

City were initially charged with 115 alleged breaches of FFP back in February 2023. That number increased to 130 and a hearing into the charges against the Premier League side concluded in 2024.

The charges relate to the:

• alleged failure to provide accurate financial information, including details for player and manager payments, from 2009-10 to 2017-18 seasons
• alleged failure to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules from 2013-14 to 2017-18
• alleged breaches of Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) from 2015-16 to 2017-18.

City also face multiple charges accusing them of failing to co-operate with the Premier League’s investigation between December 2018 and February 2023.

Wait For Verdict Goes On

It was rumoured in May that a verdict was set to ‘arrive within weeks’, but there’s still no sign of an imminent verdict two months’ later.

Indeed, Man City broke the British transfer record on July 2 after signing England international Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest in a deal worth £116 million.

Asked if it’s fair that City have signed Anderson despite the charges hanging over them, football finance expert Stefan Borson told talkSPORT: “Well, it’s fair because what do you want City to do? To stop everything whilst the whole case was ongoing?

“The case has been ongoing for many years. It’s not acceptable, but there’s no decision in the case.

“The last I heard was probably the end of June and there didn’t seem to have been a decision.

“It may have come since, but even so 19, 20 months, we are now at the edges of whatever happens in any of these cases.”

Verdict Could Still Be Several Months Away

Borson says it could still take several months before a decision is announced, with arbitration cases lasting up to 24 months in some instances.

He continued: “I spoke to a KC (King’s Counsel) recently and said, ‘have all your cases, all your litigation, courts of appeal, wherever, what’s the longest you’ve waited for a decision?’

“And he said, ‘five months’ and even that he had contact with the judges being in touch with him. Arbitration is different and some arbitration does go to 24 months.

“But it does put the judgement when it comes in a territory where if it goes against one of the parties, they may well say, ‘look, this is just unsafe now. This has just been too long. You’re not close enough to the evidence that you heard two years ago, nearly, to be able to conclude fairly on this case.’

“So it just opens up another issue for the panel. That’s obviously a very difficult appeal to win, but it’s the sort of thing that people are going to run these silly arguments or these challenging arguments if the case goes against them.

Man City, who won three of their eight Premier League titles during the period when the alleged breaches occurred, now prepare to begin the post-Pep Guardiola era under their new manager Enzo Maresca.

City begin the 2026-27 campaign with a clash against Arsenal in the Community Shield on August 16 before their opening Premier League fixture against Bournemouth one week later.

When football fans think of the term ‘idol’, one individual who usually springs to mind is the late great Pele. The Brazilian icon transcended the sport and transformed the ‘beautiful game’.

While Lionel Messi chases a second World Cup trophy, Pele sits in a league of his own. He is the only player to have won the tournament on three occasions, firing Brazil to glory in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

Pele became football’s first Black global superstar and his attacking brilliance mesmerized fans around the world. More often than not, those who grew up during his era dreamed of following in his footsteps and becoming the next Pele-like talent for their country.

Just like Messi idolised Diego Maradona, Pele too held many greats of the game in high regard. He particularly admired the work of one of Britain’s most successful sportspersons.

‘My Idol for a Coach’ – Pele

Pele opted against entering the football coaching world after calling time on his illustrious playing career. There have been many managers whose names are viewed in the same way as those of the players who take to the pitch.

No individual who has entered the British managerial dugout has ever been as successful as Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scot guided Manchester United to 13 Premier League titles during a dominant 26-and-a-half-year reign at Old Trafford.

Ferguson called time on his career in 2013, and Pele was among countless footballing legends to pay tribute. He wrote on X:

Paul Thomas via Action Images via Reuters

Ferguson was a serial winner who wrote his name into the history books at United and, first, with Aberdeen. He broke Celtic and Rangers’ stranglehold on the Scottish Premiership with three league titles.

Arguably his biggest feat came in 1983 when he led the Dons to a fairytale European Cup Winners’ Cup final victory over Real Madrid. That wasn’t the only time he got his hands on a European trophy, as he became the first manager in English football to win a continental treble in 1999.

When Sir Alex Chose Between Pele & Maradona

Unsurprisingly, Ferguson was a fan of Pele, perhaps why he instructed United to target the South American market during his era. No South American player came close to touching Brazil’s ‘King ‘, even Diego Maradona, if you ask the Scotsman.

Ferguson once weighed in on the debate over Pele and Maradona by revealing his admiration of the Santos hero. He said:

Pele unfortunately never graced European football during his playing days but made plenty of history at Santos. It would have been extraordinary to see the Brazilian rock up at Old Trafford on a UEFA Champions League night.