Ronaldo Nazario, O Fenômeno, R9, “the better Ronaldo,” according to some, the Brazilian legend is referred to by a lot of names. But after some recent revelations, you can add “Racist” to that category as well.
An old photo of Ronaldo has been floating around on X, and it shows him making racist gestures at Koreans.
The incident dates back to 2002, the year of the World Cup in South Korea. Ronaldo and the rest of the Brazilian team arrived in South Korea and made their way to the airport, where a couple of South Korean volunteers were waiting for the Brazilian delegation.
As Ronaldo was passing by, he made a racist slant eye gesture to the volunteers. Definitely an extremely offensive gesture in 2025, that would have probably made the volunteers uncomfortable even back then.
The slant eye gesture is extremely racist because it is an exaggerated, historical caricature of Asian facial features used for mocking and denigrating people of Asian descent.
Robert G Lee, an associate professor of American studies, in his book Oriental: Asian Americans in Popular Culture, stated:
“Yellowface marks the Asian body as unmistakably Oriental; it sharply defines the Oriental in a racial opposition to whiteness. Yellowface exaggerates ‘racial’ features that have been designated ‘Oriental,’ such as ‘slanted’ eyes, overbite, and mustard-yellow skin colour”.
Footballers making the slant eye gesture isn’t new. Coincidentally, Uruguay and Real Madrid midfielder Fede Valverde also made the slant eye gesture in South Korea. The player made the gesture during the 2017 U-20 World Cup, but the images resurfaced during the 2022 World Cup after South Korea eliminated Uruguay on goal difference.
Valverde had to clarify that he did the slant eye celebration as a tribute to his close friend, whose nickname is “El Chino”, Spanish for “The Chinese”. His friend later got the image of Valverde doing the slant eye celebration tattooed.
Another incident in 2017 saw Lavezzi, while playing for Hebei China Fortune F.C., make the slant eye gesture during a photoshoot with. He later had to apologize, stating that he didn’t mean any offence and did it as a joke.
Racism and making slant eye gestures aren’t just an issue with footballers, as fans have also been spotted making offensive remarks towards Asian players and other Asian fans.
In 2019, a video of an alleged Everton fan came out as he made the slant eye gesture towards South Korea and former Tottenham player Heung-min Son.
Racism is rampant in the world of football. So much so that FIFA and the leagues have come up with different organizations and campaigns like No Room for Racism as a way to combat the vile act.
The Premier League has been very strict when it comes to handing out fines for acts that they deem hint at any kind of racism.
In fact, in 2020, the FA gave Fede Valverde’s former teammate and Manchester United’s Cavani, a 3-match ban and a $100,000 fine for an Instagram story he made for his friend in which he used a Spanish word intended as an expression of affection to a friend in Uruguay.
While the word is widely used as a term of endearment in South America, it is still regarded in England and different parts of the African community as carrying racial connotations.
Cavani admitted that he didn’t know his words could be misinterpreted and offered his sincerest apologies, stating that this wasn’t his intention. Moreover, he accepted the punishment and served out his ban.
This goes to show what a difference the last few years have made in terms of combating racism in football. Regardless of the intention, the FA has set strict rules and will fine players if they do anything remotely hinting at racism.
Ronaldo will be thanking his lucky stars that it was a different time and there was no social media back then. Otherwise, a gesture like this could have easily landed him an 8-10 game ban, which means he would have missed the World Cup entirely.
Ironically, as announced in March 2025, Ronaldo is currently leading a special task force and the primary motive of the task force is to eradicate racism, discrimination, and violence in South American football.
CONMEBOL released a statement that said:
“Its mission will be to design policies and establish prevention and sanction mechanisms that contribute to eradicating these behaviors that affect both sport and society,” CONMEBOL said in a statement.
The South American governing body is under increased pressure to put an end to racism. Several Brazilian footballers and fans have been the target of monkey chants at away games in recent years.
So what do you make of Ronaldo’s gestures or the fact that he now leads an Anti-Racism Special Task Force team? Let us know in the comments section.
