Former Soccer Star Ronaldo Looks to Purchase Brazil's Playboy Magazine

Former soccer star Ronaldo is seriously looking at the possibility of buying Brazil's Playboy franchise, according to the Daily Mail. Apparently, the legendary striker is a big fan of the magazine and would like to see it reach the same level of success it had during the nineties, when each monthly issue sold over a million copies in that country alone.

Sales numbers for the Brazilian version of Playboy, as well of those worldwide, have decreased significantly in recent years and the publishing company behind the Brazilian franchise, Editora Abril, is reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy. The magazine sales have plummeted down to an average of 250,000 issues sold every month. Even at those lower figures, the magazine is still the third most read magazine in that country. Ronaldo has apparently developed a business plan alongside a team of experts that would aim to increase the sales numbers of the magazine dramatically in a short period of time.

This would not be Ronaldo's first business venture. The former player owns 9INE, a sports marketing agency which handles the image for a large number of high profile Brazilian athletes,including Neymar. The company reported a profit of 22 million last year alone. Ronaldo also owns gyms, a sports clinic, a dance club and six-story building in Rio de Janeiro. In 2005, he also became the co-owner of A1 Team Brazil, along with Brazilian racing legend Emerson Fittipaldi.

The former player has kept in touch with the soccer circuit and he is slated to become the President of Brazilian Soccer Federation next year.

Ronaldo has also become an important real estate investor after his playing carreer and now owns apartments in Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Paris and Madrid. He reportedly owns his own private island off the Rio coast.

The player was born Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima and is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. He is one of only three players to have won the FIFA Player of the Year award three times during his career. After a series of injuries prevented Ronaldo from playing at the top of his level, he finally retired from professional soccer in what was largely seen as a premature decision in February 2011.