Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo on December 24 married his pregnant girlfriend Milene Domingues in a modest civil wedding ceremony at his mother's house in a luxury district of Rio.

The ceremony was attended by about 50 family members and close friends of the couple and was closed to the press.

Ronaldo, who is still recovering from knee surgury, the 23-year- old player and his 20-year-old wife walked out to talk briefly with the reporters, who crowded outside the residence.

"We are very happy. It is a special day which I have always imagined," Ronaldo said. "We'd like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a great New Year and we hope you'll all be as happy as we are."

"I don't know when I can take this happiness I'm feeling to the soccer field. I hope that this moment helps me to return to being the player that I was and that next year I am once again the best player in the world," Ronaldo told the O Dia newspaper on the eve of the wedding.

The player's manager said that the couple would marry again in a religious ceremony in June, the same month Domingues turns 21.