The former head of the organisation was arrested as part of the FIFA corruption probe in May and his successor has come under scrutiny in the months since.
On the field, the Brazilian national side was knocked out of the Copa America at the quarter-final stage in June and started the 2018 World Cup qualifiers inconsistently, losing their opener before rebounding to win two and draw one.
"Results don't come in a tumultuous atmosphere," Ronaldo told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. "It's a very tough time for Brazilian football, both administratively and in terms of talent. We have had a difficult time finding talent. The players appeared much more frequently in the past."
Ronaldo said the jailing of former CBF boss Jose Maria Marin and the criticism of his successor Marco Polo Del Nero have damaged the credibility of football in Brazil, the only country to win the World Cup five times.
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Marin was extradited to New York earlier this month and Del Nero has refused to leave Brazil since police raided a Swiss hotel in May, arresting nine football officials and five sports media and promotions executives in a landmark corruption case.
According to Brazil's constitution, Brazilian citizens cannot be extradited from their homeland to another country.
"I think it interferes directly. The management of a club or a federation has to be professional, it has to be transparent," the former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Corinthians centre forward said at the opening of the Pokerstars.net Brazilian Series of Poker.
"A serious institution cannot be involved in fraud or acts of corruption. That is the first step to cleaning up Brazilian football, putting in quality people and demanding that they are transparent.
"I think he (Del Nero) should leave. He has avoided going to games and it appears he is hiding from something."
NO FORMAL ACCUSATIONS
Although there are no formal accusations against Del Nero, he has missed FIFA executive committee meetings in Europe and did not go to Chile for the Copa America.
He also neglected to accompany the Brazil squad in recent qualifying matches in Chile and Argentina.
When questioned about his refusal to leave the country, Del Nero said he was busy running the CBF in Rio de Janeiro but criticism has mounted over his refusal to travel and meet FIFA and CBF obligations.
FIFA has been in turmoil since May when the 14 sports marketing executives and soccer officials arrested at the Swiss hotel were charged in cases involving more than $150 million in bribes over a period of 24 years.
U.S. prosecutors said their investigation exposed complex money laundering schemes, millions of dollars in untaxed incomes and tens of millions in offshore accounts held by FIFA officials.
Ronaldo said last year he would be willing to take an active role in running Brazilian football but told Reuters on Wednesday that now was not the time for him to get involved.
Instead, he called for a "rethink" of how the game is run and said the top men at the CBF should be more open with fans about what was going on inside the organisation.
"I have done a lot in football and I like what I do," he said. "But I have no pretensions right now for holding a position in the CBF. My businesses demand a lot of movement."
"The CBF needs to clear up all the doubts that people have. I think the CBF has great potential to do incredible things in football. It's a waste that things have not been done correctly."
"We need to rethink how we rebuild football as a whole, administratively and on the field."
(Additional reporting by Tatiana Ramil, Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)
