(6 June 2006 3:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Fifa's World Player of the Year for 2004 and 2005, Brazilian striker Ronaldinho, is releasing a series of products for mobile phones. The partnership between Goal Mobile, a company focused on soccer-related applications for wireless devices, and Meantime Mobile Creations, a Brazilian developer and publisher for mobile platforms, will deliver games, wallpapers, videos and other content to almost 500 million users in 29 countries.

Ronaldinho products will be available in five continents, in countries like Germany, Spain, Italy, France, India, Russia, Australia, the UK and US, among others.

Ronaldinho is the first name involved in the deal, but there are plans to take other soccer stars to mobile phone screens. Under contract terms, Goal Mobile handles the image and name rights, while Meantime manages technological and commercial questions.

The launch is due for this month, prior to the World Cup opening, with one game and a set of wallpapers: exclusive images spanning Ronaldinho's entire career -- from Gremio to Barcelona, passing through Paris Saint Germain and the Brazilian national team -- and personal photographs.

The mobile game, called Total Control, explores his most distinguishing talents, such as creativity, ability and spontaneity. The user has to keep the rhythm, while Ronaldinho juggles the ball. Total Control is a one-button game, that is, the user needs to push only one key on his cell phone to play.

"Our goal is to reach Ronaldinho's fans, and not just gamers. So we wanted to find a simple and attractive gameplay," explains Meantime products director Fabiano Alves.

Besides Total Control and the wallpaper pack, both companies are preparing other applications like ringtones and videos to be released in the following months.