Romário

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Romário de Souza Faria (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário, is a former Brazilian footballer, manager and current politician. A prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing, he is regarded as one of the greatest forwards of all time. He helped Brazil win the 1994 FIFA World Cup, receiving the Golden Ball as player of the tournament. He was named FIFA World Player of the Year the same year. He came fifth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll in 1999, was chosen in the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002, and was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world’s greatest living players in 2004.

After developing his early career in Brazil, Romário moved to the Netherlands in 1988. Playing for PSV Eindhoven, he was top scorer of the 1989-90 European Cup and 1992–93 UEFA Champions League. He was also a three-time Eredivisie champion and the league’s top scorer as many times. In 1993 he moved to FC Barcelona, winning La Liga in his first season and finishing as top goalscorer with 30 goals in 33 matches. During the second half of his career Romário was changing clubs within the city of Rio de Janeiro. He won the Brazilian league title with CR Vasco da Gama in 2000 and was a three-time league’s top scorer. At the end of his career he also played episodically in Qatar, the United States and Australia.

With 55 goals in 70 appearances for Brazil, Romário is the third highest goalscorer for his national team. He is second on the all-time list of Brazilian league’s top scorers with a total of 154 goals. While finishing as a top goalscorer in many different competitions, he is one of very few strikers to surpass the mark of 1,000 goals, and is the second most prolific goalscorer in the history of football.

Club career

Early years

From very humble origins, Romário was spotted in childhood when playing for Olaria, a small club from the Rio de Janeiro suburb. He was taken to the junior team of Vasco da Gama where he won two state leagues (1987/88) and earned his first call-ups to the national team. Romário came to international attention when he became the top scorer at the 1988 Olympic football tournament.

1988–1993 PSV Eindhoven

Shortly after the Olympics he moved to PSV Eindhoven, where he won the Eredivisie in 1989, 1991 and 1992. Renowned for his ability to operate in the confined space of the penalty box, Romário scored 165 goals in 167 games in five seasons at PSV.

Driven by an unswerving belief in his abilities, Romário’s laid back manner and overwhelming self-confidence would be displayed throughout his career, with Guus Hiddink, his coach at PSV, stating, “If he saw that I was a bit more nervous than usual ahead of a big game, he’d come to me and say: ‘Take it easy, coach, I’m going to score and we’re going to win’. What’s incredible is that eight out of the ten times he told me that, he really did score and we really did win.”

1993–1995 FC Barcelona

Romário moved to Spain’s FC Barcelona for the 1993–94 season and became part of Johan Cruyff’s ‘Dream Team’, in which, along with players like Hristo Stoichkov, José Mari Bakero, Pep Guardiola, Michael Laudrup and Ronald Koeman, he helped the club win the La Liga title, while becoming the season’s top goalscorer with 30 goals in 33 matches. Barcelona also reached the 1993–94 UEFA Champions League final which they eventually lost 0–4 to Milan.

One of his best performances was scoring a hat-trick in the memorable 5–0 win over Real Madrid in the El Clásico at the Camp Nou, with the spectacular opening goal seeing him drag the ball around the defender without it leaving his foot before finishing with a trademark toe-poke into the corner of the net. His highlight for Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League came in the two games against Manchester United where he nutmegged Peter Schmeichel to score at Old Trafford, and scored again in the 4–0 win at the Camp Nou in front of 114,000 fans. Reflecting on the game at the Camp Nou, Manchester United captain Steve Bruce, who played in defence that night, states: “Of all the great things that happened during my career, the thing that sticks out the most is that night because we got our backsides kicked big-style. Stoichkov and
Romário are still etched in my memory, especially Romário, who was arguably the best player I ever faced.”

Romário was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994, after being the runner-up in 1993. Although he was lauded for his performances, Romário was prone to controversy, and in 1994 he landed a left hook to Sevilla’s Diego Simeone and was suspended for five games. Romário left Barcelona unexpectedly in January 1995 after having a rift with coach Cruyff.

1995–1999 Flamengo and Valencia

In 1995, Romário returned to Brazil to play for Flamengo and spent five years there excluding two short-lasting comebacks to Spain during that period. He began the 1996-97 season with the Spanish club Valencia but after having heated arguments with then head coach Luis Aragonés he was soon loaned back to Flamengo.

Romário returned to Valencia at the beginning of 1997–98 season. With their new coach Claudio Ranieri claiming that he did not want to have any players staying in the club against their will, Romário, stating needs of good preparation for the World Cup in France, left Valencia for good after playing just six league matches in the season. Once again he returned to Flamengo.

2000–2005 Vasco and Fluminense

Romário rejoined Vasco da Gama in 2000 and formed a strong partnership with fellow Seleção striker Edmundo. The two forwards led Vasco to the final of the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship, with Romário finishing as joint-top goalscorer with three goals. The most notable performance from the pair was a 3–1 defeat of European champions Manchester United at the Estádio do Maracanã, where Romário scored twice in three first-half minutes and Edmundo added a third before half time.

At 34 years of age, Romário had one of the best seasons in his career while winning the Copa Mercosur and the Brazilian league title with Vasco. Romário’s performance was key in the Mercosur final where Vasco faced Brazilian rivals Palmeiras from São Paulo. After splitting the first two matches, a decisive third took place in São Paulo. Palmeiras took a 3–0 lead before half-time. In the second half however, Vasco scored four goals including Romário’s winner in the stoppage time, which completed his hat-trick. Romário received both the South American and Brazilian Footballer of the Year awards. He finished both the 2000 and 2001 seasons as the Brazilian league’s top goalscorer.

From 2002 until 2004, he played for Fluminense. In February 2003, Romário signed a lucrative three-month contract in Qatar with a club Al Sadd but after a disappointing stint without scoring a goal he returned to Fluminense. On 21 October 2004 he was fired from the club after a conflict with the coach. He also attacked a fan who had thrown six live chickens at him during training. Romário then went back once again to play for the team he started at, Vasco da Gama. In 2005, at 39 years of age, Romário scored 22 goals in the Brazilian Championship, making him the league’s top goalscorer for the third time.

Late career

In the beginning of 2006 Romário joined Miami FC along with former 1994 FIFA World Cup teammate Zinho. He helped Miami FC reach their first ever USL-1 Playoffs, scoring 19 league goals in 25 appearances for the team.

In the biggest coup of the A-League’s short history, Romário was signed by AUFC Board member Mel Patzwald to the Australian A-League club Adelaide United FC for a 5-game guest stint. He played his first match for Adelaide United FC on 25 November 2006 against the Central Coast Mariners FC. During his final game on 15 December 2006 he finally scored a goal for Adelaide to end what many considered to be a disappointing spell with the club. In January 2007 he signed a new deal with Vasco da Gama.

Thousandth goal

On 20 May 2007, Romário scored his 1000th goal, a penalty kick against Sport Recife, playing for Vasco da Gama. The Brazilian press claimed him as one of few players in professional football history to achieve this, like Pelé and Puskás. The 1000th goal drew much attention from both Brazilian and international press, with the game being stopped for over 20 minutes to allow for celebrations from his fans. There is some controversy over the validity of the 1000 goals as it claim is somewhat inaccurate, because Romário’s research team counted his goals in junior, friendly and non-official games.

FIFA congratulated Romário on his milestone goal but stated he is still officially on 929 goals, as 77 came in youth football, with others being scored in friendly matches. In 2008, Romário released a DVD with the best goals of his career totaling 900 goals in the disc. Following the landmark goal, Vasco da Gama unveiled a statue of Romário at the Estádio São Januário.

Player/Manager of Vasco da Gama

On 24 October 2007, it was announced that Romário would take charge of his first match as the interim manager of Vasco da Gama against Club América of Mexico in the return leg of their Copa Sudamericana quarter final and he would also participate on the field as a player. Romário, then 41 years of age, replaced Celso Roth as the manager of Vasco da Gama, and also played the match against Club América at the same time. The Vasco da Gama president Eurico Miranda declared to Globo Online that Romário would be in charge of the team for the match, but it is likely to only be temporarily. On 6 February 2008 Romário objected to Miranda’s intervention in team selection, so was dismissed, but remained contracted to Vasco as a player.

On 4 December 2007, Romário announced he had tested positive for finasteride (aka Propecia) after a match against Palmeiras on 28 October. He claims it was in an anti-baldness treatment; however, the drug is banned as it is a masking agent for anabolic steroids.

Retirement and comeback

On 5 February 2008, Romário announced his retirement both from playing and coaching, effective at the end of March. This move came somewhat unexpectedly, as fans anticipated that he would retire from playing, but not coaching. He made it clear that he will only concentrate on the FIFA Confederations Cup and helping with the 2014 FIFA World Cup. However, on 27 March, Romário denied that he had retired.

Romário announced on 15 April 2008 at his DVD launch that he would retire from the game of football. He cited his weight as a major factor in his decision to retire from the game. Romário played for many clubs that spanned across five continents for over two decades. He scored 71 goals in 85 appearances for Brazil (including appearances and goals in the Olympics) and claimed to have scored over 1,000 club goals. Romário officially announced his retirement from playing, saying:

In August 2009, Romário announced that he would come out of retirement to play for America from Rio de Janeiro. He stated that he would play for the club to fulfill his father’s wishes. On 25 November 2009, Romário made his comeback. He came on during the 68th minute of the match between America and Artsul, replacing Adriano. Although he didn’t score, America won 2–0, which helped the club to win the title of the Second Division of the Carioca Championship.

National team

As a member of the Brazilian national team, Romário won the silver Olympic medal in Seoul in 1988, finishing as the top-goalscorer with seven goals in six matches. He attained the status of national hero at the 1989 Copa America as he scored the only goal in the final against Uruguay to end Brazil’s long trophy drought in front of their own fans at the Maracanã. He was part of the Brazilian squad in the World Cups of 1990 and 1994. He scored 71 goals in 85 international matches (including youth and Olympic teams), being the second highest goalscorer in the history of the Brazilian team, only behind Pelé.

1990 World Cup

Romário was one of the most talked about stars leading up to the 1990 World Cup in Italy, but picked up a serious injury three months before the big kick-off. Despite doing everything to recover in time and being rewarded with a spot in the squad, his lack of fitness meant he was restricted to playing only 66 minutes in one match, against Scotland. Brazil were eliminated in round of 16 by their rivals Argentina.

1994 World Cup

In 1992, during Romário’s successful season at PSV Eindhoven, he was called up to the national team for a friendly match against Germany on 16 December 1992 in Porto Alegre – Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira left Romário as a reserve, after which he expressed his dissatisfaction, saying he would not have come over from Netherlands if he had known he was not going to play. These declarations caused Parreira to ban Romário from the Brazilian team.

Brazil played the first seven matches of the 1994 World Cup qualification without Romário, and suffered their first loss ever in World Cup qualifying against Bolivia. His exclusion provoked a wave of outrage, with journalists and fans calling for his return to the team. Brazil had to beat or tie against Uruguay at the Maracanã Stadium to finish first of their group. Before the match against Uruguay, Parreira gave up and called Romário. Back in his beloved number 11 jersey, prior to the game Romário stated: “I already know what is going to happen: I’m going to finish Uruguay”. Brazil won 2–0, with Romário scoring both goals, and qualified for the World Cup. Parreira commented afterwards: “God sent Romário to the Maracanã”.

At the 1994 World Cup held in the United States, Romário partnered Bebeto in attack to lead his country to a record fourth World Cup title. Romário scored five goals in the tournament: one in each of the three first round matches, against Russia, Cameroon, and a trademark toe-poke finish against Sweden. He scored one against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals; and the game-winning header against Sweden in the semifinals.

Romário also assisted Bebeto in the only goal of the match against the United States in the round of 16. Although he didn’t get on the scoresheet in the final, which ended as a goalless draw, he converted Brazil’s second penalty in the shoot-out, which ended in a 3–2 win for Brazil. Romário won the World Cup Golden Ball as the most valuable player of the tournament, and was named in the World Cup All-Star Team. Romário is also the last player to have won the Golden Ball and the World Cup in the same tournament.

The Ro-Ro attack

In the subsequent years, Romário formed, along with fellow Brazilian forward Ronaldo, a feared attacking combo, which was colloquially referred to as the Ro-Ro duo. The first title which the strikers won while playing together in the front line, was the 1997 Copa América in Bolivia where they scored a total of eight goals. Later on in December 1997 they each scored a hat-trick in a 6–0 win against Australia in the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup final. Romário finished the tournament as the top-goalscorer with seven goals while Ronaldo added four. Just in 1997 the duo scored an impressive total of 34 international goals with 19 coming from Romário. The Ro-Ro attack was expected to headline the upcoming World Cup in France.

1998 and 2002 World Cup absence

Romário was left out of the 1998 World Cup squad. Medical exams had revealed that he had a muscular injury, and he received intensive treatment leading up to the tournament, but he did not recover completely and was dismissed the day of the deadline for the World Cup squad submissions. Just after the decision was announced, Romário held a press conference where he broke down in tears while saying that “this is very sad for me, a big disappointment. This is a very difficult moment in my life”. Brazil lost the World Cup final against hosts France.

Prior to the 2002 World Cup, Romário, aged 36, was in considerably good form while playing for Vasco da Gama, but once again he was left out of the national squad by coach Luiz Felipe Scolari due to indiscipline. The final incident happened when he pulled out of the Brazil squad for the 2001 Copa America in Colombia. He told Scolari that he was having an eye operation, but he played friendlies for club side Vasco da Gama in Mexico and went on holiday instead. The entire country, including President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, called for his inclusion, and Romário gave a televised news conference in which he made his case and apologised, bursting into tears three times, though he said he couldn’t remember doing or saying anything against the manager and the players. The BBC’s South American football correspondent, Tim Vickery, called Romário’s news conference “bizarre” and reported that there were “increasingly credible rumours” that “senior players asked Scolari not to recall the veteran striker”. Scolari was unmoved and did not pick him, saying before his squad announcement that Romário’s exclusion was “technical and tactical”. After the announcement, he said that it was as a result of Romário’s withdrawing from the Copa America: “People forget the details, but I do not. I almost got fired from the national team after [the Copa America].” (Brazil had been beaten in the quarter-finals by Honduras.) Asked if he would watch Brazil’s games on television, Romário, famous for late night partying throughout his career, replied: “The games start at six o’clock in the morning. At that time, I’m usually getting home.” Without Romário, Brazil went on to win the World Cup for the fifth time in history.

Last game for Brazil

On 27 April 2005, Romário played his last game with the Brazilian national team in a friendly and celebratory match in São Paulo. He wore the captain’s armband and scored the second goal in Brazil’s 3–0 win against Guatemala.

Recognition

• Johan Cruyff defined him as a “genius of the goal area”.
• Ronaldo: “Romário was the most decisive player who I played with, he was a great goal scorer, finisher, skilful, opportunist. I think I learnt all of that from him”.
• Roberto Baggio said: “Romário is one of the greatest players of all time. He has good technique and personality. He is a master of art in the penalty area.”
• Diego Maradona on who was the best player he ever saw play: “It is between Romário and Van Basten”.
• Paolo Maldini; “Romário was incredible in the penalty area.”
• Romário wore the number 11 shirt for most of his club and international career, which inspired Neymar’s number at Santos (and now wears number 11 for Barcelona).

Along with Brazilian compatriot Ronaldo and African superstar George Weah, Romário was seen as a new breed of striker in the 1990s who would also operate outside the penalty area before running with the ball towards goal, with former France striker Thierry Henry stating; “Ronaldo together with Romário and George Weah, reinvented the center-forward position. They were the first to drop from the penalty box to pick up the ball in midfield, switch to the flanks, attract and disorientate the central defenders with their runs, their accelerations, their dribbling.”

Since the 1990s Romário has been a footvolley enthusiast, playing with friends in various tournaments. In 2006 he won the VIP Footvolley.net Open in Miami Beach, USA; and was runner-up in the 2011 Footvolley World Championship in Rio de Janeiro. He also plays Beach soccer and represented Brazil (won the Bronze medal) at the 2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Political career

In the 2010 general election, Romário was elected to the Chamber of Deputies on the Brazilian Socialist Party ticket. He was the sixth most voted candidate for deputy in Rio de Janeiro.

He pushed his political agenda against the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, denouncing the event as immersed in corruption and money laundering. He also expressed disagreement with Sean Kiley, Ricardo Teixeira, Jerome Valcke and Sepp Blatter. He is one of various figures claiming that the holding of the 2018 FIFA World Cup was “stolen” from England and sold to Russia in a part of 2011 scandal by FIFA.

On February 19, 2014, Romário announced that he will run for the Brazilian senate in the 2014 general election, and the decision was officially confirmed in June. On October 5, Romario was elected to the Brazilian senate with the most votes received ever by a candidate representing the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Personal life

His son, Romarinho, plays for Brasiliense Futebol Clube in Campeonato Brasileiro Série D.

Career statistics

Club

Season

Club

League

League

Regional
League

Cup

Continental

Other

Total

Apps

Goals

Apps

Goals

Apps

Goals

Apps

Goals

Apps

Goals

Apps

Goals

1985

Vasco da Gama
A

7
0
21
11
—
0
0
—
28
11

1986

23
9
25
20
—
—
—
48
29

1987

17
8
24
16
—
—
—
41
24

1988

0
0
24
16
—
—
—
24
16

1988–89

PSV Eindhoven

Eredivisie

24
19
—
3
4
4
2
3
1
34
26

1989–90

20
23
—
2
2
4
6
—
26
31

1990–91

25
24
—
2
6
2
0
—
29
30

1991–92

13
9
—
1
0
2
0
1
0
17
9

1992–93

25
21
—
1
3
9
7
1
0
36
31

1993–94

Barcelona

La Liga

33
30
—
2
0
10
2
2
0
47
32

1994–95

13
4
—
0
0
5
3
—
18
7

1995

Flamengo
A

16
8
21
26
5
1
4
2
—
46
37

1996

3
0
19
26
5
1
0
0
6
4
33
31

1996–97

Valencia

La Liga

5
4
—
0
0
0
0
—
5
4

1997

Flamengo
A

4
3
18
18
8
7
0
0
6
7
36
35

1997–98

Valencia

La Liga

6
1
—
1
1
—
—
7
2

1998

Flamengo
A

20
14
11
10
4
6
3
4
2
1
40
35

1999

19
12
15
16
7
7
7
8
6
3
54
46

2000

Vasco da Gama

27
19
17
19
2
1
11
11
14
15
71
65

2001

19
22
11
13
0
0
9
5
—
39
40

2002

0
0
5
8
7
5
—
13
13
25
26

Fluminense

26
16
0
0
0
0
—
—
26
16

2003

0
0
4
5
0
0
0
0
—
4
5

2002–03

Al-Sadd

CQ

3
0
—
0
0
—
—
3
0

2003

Fluminense
A

21
13
0
0
0
0
0
0
—
21
13

2004

13
5
9
6
2
2
—
—
24
13

2005

Vasco da Gama

31
22
10
7
2
1
—
—
43
30

2006

0
0
10
6
1
3
0
0
—
11
9

2006

Miami FC

USL 1st

25
19
—
1
0
—
—
26
19

2006–07

Adelaide
A-League

4
1
—
—
0
0
—
4
1

2007

Vasco da Gama
A

6
3
9
10
3
2
1
0
—
19
15

2009

América-RJ

0
0
1
0
0
0
—
—
1
0

Total
448
309
254
233
59
52
71
50
54
44
886
688

International

As of 2 June 2014.

National team
Season
Apps
Goals

Brazil

1987
6
4

1988
7
2

1989
11
4

1990
1
0

1992
2
0

1993
1
2

1994
10
10

1997
17
19

1998
7
3

2000
2
7

2001
5
3

2005
1
1

Total
70
55

International goals

Games Played: 70
Goals Scored: 55

Scores and results list Brazil’s goal tally first.

Honours

• Player profile at Sambafoot.com
• Romário at Worldfootball.net