Ravenna, a quiet Adriatic port city better known for its Byzantine mosaics, is about to host one of the strangest and most charming comebacks in football history. Ronaldinho, the Brazilian World Cup winner and former Ballon d'Or winner, will make his debut for Serie C club Ravenna on November 15 in a local derby against Forli at the Stadio Bruno Benelli.

The numbers alone make this remarkable. Ronaldinho is 46. His last professional match came for Fluminense in 2015, and he officially retired in 2018 after a career that took in Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and AC Milan, plus the 2002 World Cup with Brazil. He will be nearly a dozen years removed from his previous competitive appearance when he steps onto the pitch.

The backstory is as colourful as the player himself. Ravenna are owned by Italian entrepreneur Ignazio Cipriani, a friend of Ronaldinho's and a figure behind the Cipriani restaurant brand. The Brazilian signed with the club in June and has also bought a stake in it. He was presented to fans at a beachside ceremony in Marina di Ravenna in August, fuelling months of speculation about whether he would actually play a competitive match — a question now settled with a firm date.

There's a serious sporting context too. Ravenna sit second in Serie C Group B with 20 points from 10 games, eight points behind leaders Spezia, and the club hopes its famous recruit will pull the local community closer to the team while drawing eyes from far beyond Italy. Cipriani has even said he'd love to see Ronaldinho score the final goal of his career in a Ravenna shirt — which would add to a career tally of nearly 300.

For travellers, this is a genuinely odd invitation. Serie C football usually means sparse crowds and low ticket prices, but the derby against Forli at the Benelli is shaping up as an international event, with fans likely travelling just to say they watched Ronaldinho play. Ravenna itself rewards the trip regardless: its early Christian monuments are UNESCO-listed, the food is solid Emilia-Romagna fare, and the beach district of Marina di Ravenna sits right on the Adriatic coast.

Whether you're a football romantic or simply curious, mid-November in Ravenna now comes with a storyline you won't get anywhere else.

Via Daily Sabah Travel.