Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Ronaldo’s Son Plays For Brazil At Maccabiah Games — Even Though He’s Not Jewish

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The son of Brazil’s legendary soccer player Ronaldo is playing for Brazil at the 20th Maccabiah Games in Jerusalem — even though he’s not Jewish.

“This is the Brazilian delegation that represents us at the World Maccabi Games. A special hug to my son @ronald_lima. Good luck, guys! Go for it, Brazil,” Ronaldo posted on Instagram on Wednesday, a day before the start of the games, dubbed the “Jewish Olympics.” The post, accompanied by a photo of Ronald and the team, garnered over 40,000 likes in the first six hours.

Ronaldo’s son Ronald, 17, is not Jewish. But he is a member of Brazil’s Under 18 soccer team, which is participating in the Maccabiah games. A record 10,000 athletes from 80 countries will be competing in 43 sports at the world’s third-largest sporting event, according to organizers.

“Ronald and his mother Milena have been full members of Hebraica club for years, where they felt warmly welcomed and feel like home, as they say. They have also been approaching Judaism more and more,” Avi Gelberg, who presides over both the Maccabi organization in Brazil and the Hebraica club in Sao Paulo, told JTA.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.