sport news Brazil's 2002 World Cup winning team have reunited, but where are they now? trends now

A number of Brazil's legendary 2002 World Cup winning squad have come together for a reunion - 20 years since the day they lifted the trophy against Germany.

The 2002 World Cup winning squad included some of the game's greatest players, including Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos and Cafu.

On Thursday, the likes of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Cafu attended an event in Rio de Janeiro to mark the 20th anniversary.

They posed with the World Cup trophy which, to this day, remains the last time they won the competition. While they also held the shirts that they wore on June 30, 2002. 

Ronaldo was the star of the tournament scoring eight goals in total to win the Golden Boot and netting twice past Oliver Khan in the final.

A number of players were visibly absent from the reunion including Ronaldinho - who famously dumped England out at the quarter-final stage, and Kaka, who only played 25 minutes in the tournament at the age of 20.

Cafu who captained the side to glory, delivered a speech during the event to his team-mates.

Brazil are hoping that their 2022 squad will end the country's 20 years of pain at the World Cup, with the South American nation going into the tournament as the early favourites. 

Sportsmail takes a look at where some of the 2002 World Cup winning stars are today.

Ronaldo

 The legendary former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid striker scored eight goals during the tournament in Japan and South Korea to help Brazil on their way to a fifth World Cup triumph.

It was the iconic striker who also scored twice to seal the 2-0 victory in the final against Germany. 

Later during his career he struggles with weight and injury issues and he eventually retired in 2011 following two years at Brazilian side Corinthians.

Today, the Brazilian owns two sides, including boyhood club Cruzeiro, who he invested $70 million into the club back in December.

He is also the owner of Spanish side Real Valladolid who recently got promoted back to LaLiga.

After his club earned promotion, he stuck to his promise of cycling 450km from Valladolid to Santiago de Compostela near the west coast of the country.

Ronaldinho 

The biggest moment at the 2002 World Cup for Ronaldinho arguably came in the quarter-finals when his long range free-kick dipped over David Seaman to knock England out of the tournament.

Ronaldinho was the best player on the planet for a period during his time at Barcelona and will go down as one of the sport's most popular footballers for the joy he brought to the pitch.

The football legend was caught up in a scandal in March 2020, after he attempted to enter Paraguay with fake documents along with his brother.

A series of trials followed, as Ronaldinho was placed in a Paraguay prison where he ended up spending his 40th birthday, before later being released on house arrest.

He was released from house arrest after he and his brother who was also involved, were forced to pay £153,000 between them, as per Sky News.

Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos put on a star-studded charity game last month at Inter Miami's stadium which included former team-mates as well as current stars like Vinicus Jr, Paul Pogba and Paulo Dybala.

After that, he also played in a tournament in Indonesia, where he provided training sessions for children in the country.