News Release

King of Soccer as a Cartoon Character Scores Big with Universal Press Syndicate

Kansas City, MO  (05/23/2006)  International soccer star Ronaldinho Gaucho, Brazilian cartoonist Mauricio de Sousa and Universal Press Syndicate have teamed up to syndicate a new children’s comic strip entitled “Ronaldinho Gaucho.” The comic strip begins worldwide syndication on Monday, May 29. The first Sunday strip appears June 4.

“Ronaldinho Gaucho” is based on the childhood of the famous soccer star who was named the best soccer player in the world by international soccer’s governing body in 2004 and 2005. “Ronaldinho Gaucho” has already picked up major newspaper clients in the Netherlands, London, Japan, Singapore, Colombia, Ecuador and Honduras.

“It’s an ideal time for newspapers to be introducing this strip, what with the World Cup coming up and Ronaldinho Gaucho leading Barcelona to victory against Arsenal in the European Champions League finals this past week. Ronaldinho is on everyone’s minds in Europe. The comic strip is a positive and fanciful pictorial of him as a child and his soccer playing buddies,” says Kerry Slagle, the president of Atlantic Syndication, the international division of Universal.

The lively team of characters in the comic strip include Ronaldinho’s brother Asis; sister Daisy, number one fan Diego, his mother and two lovable dogs named Champ and Fireball. Readers can follow their adventures on and off of the soccer field in this daily and Sunday comic strip.

De Sousa has already taken Ronaldinho to star status in publishing, licensing, animation, television syndication and social campaigns. Even a movie is in the works.

Winner of the prestigious Yellow Kid Award (the Oscar of cartooning), De Sousa has created a dynamic enterprise in Brazil that produces a steady stream of newspaper strips and Sunday pages, comic and activity books, hardcover storybooks, animation, theme parks, website and social campaigns. With more than 150 artists, Mauricio de Sousa Productions (MSP) is the fourth largest art studio in the world.

About Universal Press Syndicate and Atlantic Syndication

Universal Press is the largest independent newspaper syndicate in the world and Atlantic Syndication is its international division. Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., Universal Press /Atlantic distributes some of the most popular comics and features in newspapers today, including Dear Abby, The Boondocks, Cathy, Doonesbury, For Better or For Worse, FoxTrot, Garfield, The Mini Page and Ziggy. Its features list ranges from Pulitzer Prize winners Roger Ebert, Pat Oliphant, Anna Quindlen, Ben Sargent, Tom Toles and Garry Trudeau to famed columnists William F. Buckley Jr., James J. Kilpatrick and John Leo. Atlantic Syndication also represents The Independent News Service in North and South America, the Christian Science Monitor News Service outside the U.S. and Canada and Copley News Service outside the U.S. and Canada. Atlantic has a sales staff in Latin America, Asia and the Pacific, along with a network of independent sales agents around the world.

For more information, go to www.amuniversal.com/ups.

Creator(s):

Contact(s): Kathie Kerr

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