Romário

From 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 league titles (1987, 1988) 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.^[11]

Shortly after the Olympics he moved to PSV Eindhoven, where he won the Eredivisie in 1989, 1991 and 1992.^[11] 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.^[8]

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."^[12]

Romário moved to Barcelona for the 1993–94 season and became part of Johan Cruyff's "Dream Team", in which, along with players such as strike partner Hristo Stoichkov, midfielders José Mari Bakero, and Michael Laudrup, and prolific goalscoring defender Ronald Koeman, he helped the club win the La Liga title, while becoming the season's top goalscorer with 30 goals in 33 matches.^[11] Barcelona also reached the 1994 UEFA Champions League final, where in spite of being heavy favourites to win, they eventually lost 0–4 to Milan. The buildup to the final saw Spanish newspapers already declaring Barcelona as winners, while Cruyff told his team, "You're better than them, you're going to win".^[13] With Romário and Stoichkov leading the Barcelona attack, Milan defender Paolo Maldini conceded his team were underdogs, but they were spurred on by what they perceived as arrogance from Barcelona.^[13]

One of Romário's 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.^[7] 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.^[3][15] 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."^[15]

Romário was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994, after being the runner-up in 1993.^[11] 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.^[16] Romário left Barcelona unexpectedly in January 1995 after having a rift with coach Cruyff.^[17]

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.^[8] During a Copa Libertadores match against an Argentine team in 1995, Romário kicked an opposition defender on the chest in retaliation for a punch on his teammate Edmundo.^[18] 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.^[19]

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 at the club against their will, Romário, stating his need for 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.^[20]

Romário rejoined Vasco da Gama in 2000 and linked up again with fellow international striker Edmundo. Forming a prolific partnership, 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.^[21] Having previously got on well together at Flamengo, the volatile Edmundo became jealous of Romário's privileges, stating the club was "a court, Romário the prince and [club chairman] Eurico Mirando [sic] the king".^[18] After Vasco's victory a few days later, Romário replied: "Now the court is happy: the king, the prince and the fool [Edmundo]".^[18]

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.^[22] 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.^[23]

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.^[24] 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.^[16] 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.^[11][25]

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.

Newly promoted Campeonato Mineiro side Tupi announced a short-term deal with Romário to play for the Juiz de Fora team in the Taça Minas. However, the Brazilian Football Confederation prohibited the transfer, claiming the contract was signed after the closing of the international transfer window. Romário did not make his debut for the club, but took part in practice sessions.^[26][27]

Seen as a publicity 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 for a 5-game guest stint. He played his first match for Adelaide United on 25 November 2006 against the Central Coast Mariners. 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.^[28] In January 2007 he signed a new deal with Vasco da Gama.

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, Puskás, Friedenreich and Binder.^[29] 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.^{[30][31][32][33]} There is some controversy over the validity of the 1000 goals, because the number is somewhat inaccurate and Romário's research team also counted his goals in junior, friendly and non-official games.^[34]

FIFA congratulated Romário on his milestone goal^[35] but stated he is still officially on 929 goals, as 77 came in youth football, with others being scored in unofficial friendly matches.^[36] RSSSF estimated his career tally to be 968 goals in 1188 games.^[10] In 2008, Romário released a DVD with the best goals of his career totaling 900 goals in the disc.^[37] Following the landmark goal, Vasco da Gama unveiled a statue of Romário at the São Januário.^[38]

On 24 October 2007, it was announced that Romário would take charge of his first match as the interim manager of Vasco 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. 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 was banned as it is a masking agent for anabolic steroids.^[39]

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.^[40][41] 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:

Officially I'm not playing any more. I've stopped. My time is up. Everything has been a lot of fun.^[42]

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 late father's wishes.^[43] 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 did not score, America won 2–0, which helped the club to win the Carioca Championship Second Division title.

In 2024, aged 58, Romário came out of retirement for a second time and was registered as a player-president for America in the 2024 Campeonato Carioca Série A2 to play alongside his son Romarinho.^[44] He was an unused substitute in the 2-0 against Petrópolis in the first round and stated that the initial plan is to be available only for the home matches.^[45]

As a member of the Brazil national team, Romário won the silver Olympic medal in Seoul in 1988, finishing as the top-goalscorer with seven goals in six matches.^[12] He attained the status of national hero at the 1989 Copa América 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.^[12] He was part of the Brazilian squad in the World Cups of 1990 and 1994. He scored 71 goals in 85 international matches (including senior and Olympic teams), being the fourth-highest goalscorer in the history of the Brazilian team.

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.^[12] 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.^[12] Brazil were eliminated in round of 16 by their rival side Argentina.^[46]

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.^[47]

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.^[12] 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".^[48] Brazil won 2–0, with Romário scoring both goals, and qualified for the World Cup. Parreira commented afterwards: "God sent Romário to the Maracanã".^[48]

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.^[11] 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.^[49][50] He scored one against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals; and the game-winning header against Sweden in the semifinals.^[50]

Romário also assisted Bebeto in the only goal of the match against the United States in San Francisco for the round of 16 elimination match. Although he did not get on the scoresheet in the final in Los Angeles against Italy, a game played in searing heat 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.^[11] 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.^[11]

Described by Jere Longman of The New York Times as "short on humility, long on talent", Romário demanded a window seat on the team plane and refused to sit next to Bebeto.^[51] He did however join Bebeto in one of the most iconic images of the tournament. After Bebeto scored against the Netherlands in Dallas, his goal celebration generated headlines around the world when he began rocking an imaginary baby – his wife had given birth to their third child just days before – with Romário (and Mazinho) then joining Bebeto in the rocking motion.^[52]

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.^[53] Romário finished the tournament as the top-goalscorer with seven goals while Ronaldo added four. In 1997 alone, 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.

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.^[54] 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".^[55] Brazil lost the World Cup final against hosts France.^[56][57]

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 América in Colombia. He told Scolari that he was having an eye operation, but played friendlies for club side Vasco da Gama in Mexico and went on holiday instead.^[58] Romário gave a televised news conference in which he made his case and apologised, bursting into tears three times, though he said he could not remember doing or saying anything against the manager and the players.^[59] 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".^[59] 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 América: "People forget the details, but I do not. I almost got fired from the national team after [the Copa América]." (Brazil had been beaten in the quarter-finals by Honduras.)^[58] Without Romário, Brazil went on to win the World Cup for the fifth time.^[60][61]

On 27 April 2005, Romário played his last game with the Brazil national team in a friendly and celebratory match in São Paulo.^[62] He wore the captain's armband and scored the second goal in Brazil's 3–0 win against Guatemala.^[62] Following the end of his playing career with Brazil, Romário successfully campaigned for Brazil to be awarded host status for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.^[63]

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 at the 2005 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.^[64]

Romário is regarded as one of the greatest and most prolific strikers of all time.^{[8][65][66][51][67]} His coach at Barcelona, Johan Cruyff, defined him as a "genius of the goal area", as well as the greatest player he ever coached.^[14][68] His Brazilian compatriot Ronaldo, who played with him in his early career, reflected, "Romário was the most decisive player who I played with, he was a great goal scorer, finisher, skillful, opportunist. I think I learnt all of that from him".^[69] Italian playmaker Roberto Baggio said "Romário is one of the greatest players of all time. He is a master of art in the penalty area,"^[70] a view echoed by Paolo Maldini with, "Romário was incredible in the penalty area."^[71] Diego Maradona on who was the best player he ever saw play, "It is between Romário and Van Basten".^[72] Romário wore the number 11 shirt for most of his club and international career, which inspired Neymar's number at Santos (he also went on to wear number 11 for Barcelona).^[73]

Along with two other FIFA World Player of the Year recipients, Brazilian compatriot Ronaldo and Liberian star 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 centre-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."^[74] Nicknamed Baixinho (Portuguese for "The Little One," or "Shorty") Romário was an extremely agile player, who possessed excellent balance on the ball, and significant strength in spite of his small stature, which made him particularly effective in tight spaces in the penalty area, and allowed him to retain possession of the ball when put under pressure by larger players; his low centre of gravity and quick bursts of acceleration enabled him to outrun opponents over short distances and beat defenders with sudden turns or changes of pace, while his technique and finishing ability saw him score a wide variety of numerous goals, including goals from powerful and accurate first-time strikes – notably through his trademark toe-pokes with little back-lift – or even from chipped shots.^[7][75] His ball control and dribbling skills saw him use elaborate feints, such as: dragging the ball around a defender without it leaving his foot, and the flip flap.^[76][77][78]

While he could operate outside the penalty area in making runs from deep, Romário built a reputation as an extremely opportunistic "goal-poacher" inside the penalty area.^[79][80][81] He was known for his intelligence, offensive movement, and positional sense, as well as his ability to find space in the area and lose his markers by making late runs.^[76] In addition to his goalscoring, he was also known for his speed, as well as his creativity and vision, which gave him the ability to link-up with and provide assists for teammates.^{[65][67][81][82]} This enabled him to form many notable attacking partnerships with other prolific, technically gifted forwards, such as Stoichkov (at Barcelona), Edmundo (at Vasco da Gama), Euller (Vasco da Gama) and Bebeto and Ronaldo (with Brazil).^[83][84][85] In spite of his talent, however, Romário was also criticised for being too outspoken, and for his poor work rate throughout his career, in particular for his vocal dislike of training.^[8][67][79] Regarding his work-rate and lifestyle off the pitch, Rodrigo Orihuela of The Guardian stated in 2007: "Romário has never been much of a committed athlete and has always had a rather laissez-faire approach to training. 'The night was always my friend. When I go out, I am happy and when I am happy I score goals', he once summarised."^[18]

Romário has appeared in commercials for the sportswear company Nike.^[86] In 1998, he starred in a Nike commercial set in an airport with a number of stars from the Brazil national team, including Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos.^[86] Romário features in EA Sports' FIFA video game series; he was included in the FIFA 14 Ultimate Team Legends.^[87]

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.^[88][89]

He pushed his political agenda against the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, denouncing the event as immersed in corruption and money laundering.^[90][91] He also expressed disagreement with Ricardo Teixeira, Jérôme Valcke, and Sepp Blatter.^[92] He is one of various figures claiming that the holding of the 2018 FIFA World Cup was "stolen" from England and sold to Russia as part of the 2011 scandal involving FIFA.^[93]

On 19 February 2014, Romário announced that he would run for the Brazilian senate in the 2014 general election,^[94] and the decision was officially confirmed in June.^[95] On 5 October, Romario was elected to the Senate with the most votes received ever by a candidate representing the state of Rio de Janeiro.

In June 2017, Romário left the PSB and joined Podemos, becoming president of the party in the State of Rio de Janeiro.^[96] In March 2018, Romário announced his run for governor of Rio de Janeiro in the Brazilian general election as a candidate for the centrist Podemos party.^[97] Romário finished in fourth place, with 8.6% of valid votes.^[98]

In April 2021, Romário switched parties again, to the Liberal Party.^[99] In October, he publicly endorsed the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, and criticised the previous administration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.^[100]

His son, Romarinho, also played for Vasco da Gama in Campeonato Brasileiro Série A.^[101]

Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Romário goal.

• List of men's footballers with 500 or more goals

• Romário at WorldFootball.net  
• Romário – FIFA competition record (archived)