Romário

• 1. Introduction

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  Romário de Souza Faria was born on the 29th of January 1966 in Rio de Janeiro, and by the time he retired, the debate over whether he was the greatest striker who ever lived had drawn in some of the most celebrated players and coaches in history. Johan Cruyff, who coached him at Barcelona, called him a "genius of the goal area" and the greatest player he ever managed. Roberto Baggio described him as a "master of art in the penalty area". Diego Maradona, when asked who was the best player he ever saw, replied that it was between Romário and Van Basten. Steve Bruce, Manchester United's captain, said that of all the great things that happened in his career, the thing that sticks out the most was the night Barcelona demolished United 4-0 at the Camp Nou, and that Romário was arguably the best player he ever faced. What made Romário so extraordinary was partly physical: his low centre of gravity, his explosive speed over short distances, and his ability to operate in the smallest sliver of space inside the penalty area. But it was also something harder to measure. This is the story of how a boy from a Rio de Janeiro suburb became the ninth-highest goalscorer in the history of football, a World Cup winner, and eventually a senator for the state of Rio de Janeiro.

• 2. The Boy from Olaria

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  Olaria is a small club from the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, and it was there that Romário was first spotted as a child. He was taken into the junior team of Vasco da Gama, the club that would anchor so much of his career. At Vasco he won state league titles in 1987 and 1988, and earned his first call-ups to the Brazilian national team. His breakout moment on the world stage came at the 1988 Olympic football tournament in Seoul, where he finished as the tournament's top scorer with seven goals in six matches. Brazil won the silver medal, losing the gold to the Soviet Union on penalties, but Romário had announced himself to every scout and sporting director who was paying attention. Weeks after the Seoul Olympics closed, a club in the Netherlands came calling.

• 3. Five Seasons at PSV

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  PSV Eindhoven signed Romário shortly after the 1988 Olympics, and what followed was one of the most prolific five-season spells any striker has put together in European football. He scored 165 goals in 167 games for the club, a ratio that is almost without precedent. PSV won the Eredivisie in 1988-89, 1990-91, and 1991-92, and Romário finished as the Dutch league's top scorer three times. His coach at PSV was Guus Hiddink, who later described how Romário's self-confidence could seem almost theatrical before big matches. Hiddink recalled that when he was more nervous than usual before an important game, Romário would approach him and say: "Take it easy, coach, I'm going to score and we're going to win." Hiddink noted that eight times out of ten, that is exactly what happened. By 1991 Romário had also been named Dutch Footballer of the Year, and European clubs were beginning to take serious notice. When he left the Netherlands in 1993, it was to join the most ambitious football project in Europe.

• 4. Dream Team Barcelona

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  Romário arrived at Barcelona for the 1993-94 season to join Johan Cruyff's squad, which was already being called the Dream Team. The squad included midfielder Michael Laudrup, midfield engine José Mari Bakero, and the prolific scoring defender Ronald Koeman. Romário's strike partner was the Bulgarian forward Hristo Stoichkov, and together they were devastating. Romário finished the La Liga season as its top scorer with 30 goals in 33 matches and Barcelona won the title. One of his finest performances came in a 5-0 El Clásico win over Real Madrid at the Camp Nou. His opening goal in that match saw him drag the ball around the defender without it leaving his foot, then finish with his trademark toe-poke into the corner of the net. In the UEFA Champions League that year, Romário nutmegged goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel to score at Old Trafford, then scored again in the 4-0 Camp Nou leg played in front of 114,000 fans. Barcelona reached the Champions League final that season against Milan, who had been publicly dismissed as underdogs in the Spanish press. Cruyff told his players they were better than Milan and would win. Milan defender Paolo Maldini later said his team had been spurred by what they read as arrogance from the Barcelona camp. Barcelona lost the final 0-4. Romário was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994, having finished runner-up in 1993. He left Barcelona unexpectedly in January 1995 after a rift with Cruyff.

• 5. 1994 and the World Cup

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  Romário's relationship with the Brazil national team had not always been smooth. In December 1992 he was called up for a friendly against Germany in Porto Alegre but was left on the bench by coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. Romário publicly complained that he would not have made the trip from the Netherlands had he known he would not play. Parreira banned him from the squad in response. Brazil played the first seven matches of the 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign without him and suffered their first ever defeat in qualifying, losing to Bolivia. The public outcry grew until Parreira restored Romário to the squad for a decisive match against Uruguay at the Maracanã. Before the game, Romário told reporters: "I already know what is going to happen: I'm going to finish Uruguay." Brazil won 2-0 and Romário scored both goals. Parreira said afterwards: "God sent Romário to the Maracanã."

  At the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Romário partnered Bebeto in attack and scored five goals across the tournament. He scored in each of the three group matches, against Russia, Cameroon, and Sweden, with the Sweden goal being a trademark toe-poke finish. He scored against the Netherlands in the quarter-final and headed the winner against Sweden in the semi-final. The final in Los Angeles against Italy ended 0-0 after extra time, with Brazil winning the shootout 3-2. Romário converted Brazil's second penalty. He was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament's most valuable player and named in the World Cup All-Star Team. Jere Longman of The New York Times described him during that tournament as "short on humility, long on talent". Romário reportedly demanded a window seat on the team plane and refused to sit beside Bebeto. Yet after Bebeto scored against the Netherlands in Dallas, Romário joined his partner in what became one of the tournament's most iconic images: the pair rocking an imaginary cradle to celebrate the recent birth of Bebeto's third child.

• 6. The Ro-Ro Partnership and Absences

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  After the 1994 World Cup, Romário formed an attacking partnership with the younger Ronaldo for Brazil that became known as the Ro-Ro duo. In 1997 alone, the pair scored a combined total of 34 international goals, with 19 coming from Romário. They won the 1997 Copa América in Bolivia together, scoring a combined eight goals in the tournament. In December 1997, at the FIFA Confederations Cup final, each player scored a hat-trick in a 6-0 win against Australia. Romário finished that tournament as its top scorer with seven goals. The Ro-Ro attack was widely expected to lead Brazil at the 1998 World Cup in France. Instead, Romário did not go. A muscular injury had been revealed in medical exams, and despite intensive treatment he was not fit enough to make the squad by the deadline. At a press conference held just after the decision was announced, he broke down in tears and said that "this is very sad for me, a big disappointment. This is a very difficult moment in my life." Four years later, despite being in good form at Vasco da Gama at age 36, he was again left out, this time by coach Luiz Felipe Scolari on grounds of indiscipline. The BBC's South American football correspondent Tim Vickery described Romário's subsequent televised apology as "bizarre" and reported rumours that senior players had asked Scolari not to recall him. Without Romário, Brazil won the World Cup for a fifth time.

• 7. 1000 Goals and Later Life

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  Romário returned to Brazil from Barcelona in 1995 and spent much of the rest of his playing career with clubs in Rio de Janeiro, principally Flamengo and Vasco da Gama. At the age of 34, while at Vasco in 2000, he had one of the best seasons of his career. He won the Copa Mercosur and the Brazilian league title, won the South American and Brazilian Footballer of the Year awards, and finished as the league's top scorer. A notable moment that year was a 3-1 defeat of European champions Manchester United at the Estádio do Maracanã in the FIFA Club World Championship, with Romário scoring twice in three first-half minutes. In 2005, at 39 years of age, he again topped the Brazilian league's scoring charts with 22 goals, becoming its top scorer for the third time. At the beginning of 2006 he joined Miami FC with former 1994 World Cup teammate Zinho and scored 19 league goals in 25 appearances. Later that year he signed for Adelaide United in Australia for a five-game spell.

  On the 20th of May 2007, playing for Vasco against Sport Recife, Romário scored what his camp counted as his 1000th career goal, a penalty kick. The game was stopped for more than 20 minutes for celebrations. FIFA congratulated him on the milestone but noted that his official tally stood at 929 goals, with 77 having come in youth football and others in unofficial friendlies. RSSSF estimated his career total at 968 goals in 1188 games. Vasco unveiled a statue of him at the São Januário stadium. He finished with 784 goals in 1002 official games, making him the ninth-highest goalscorer in the history of football. In 2009 he came out of retirement to play for America-RJ, the club his late father had supported. In 2024, aged 58, he registered as a player-president for America in the Campeonato Carioca Série A2 alongside his son Romarinho.

• 8. From the Pitch to Politics

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  In the 2010 general election Romário was elected to Brazil's Chamber of Deputies on the Brazilian Socialist Party ticket, finishing as the sixth most voted candidate for deputy in Rio de Janeiro. He became one of the most vocal opponents of the 2014 FIFA World Cup being held in Brazil, publicly accusing the event of being immersed in corruption and money laundering, and criticising FIFA officials including Sepp Blatter and Jérôme Valcke. On the 5th of October 2014, he was elected to the Brazilian Senate with the most votes ever received by a candidate representing the state of Rio de Janeiro. He has since shifted parties twice, first joining Podemos in 2017 and later the Liberal Party in April 2021. He is currently the Senior Senator for Rio de Janeiro and serves as president of America-RJ, the same club he came out of retirement to play for at his father's request.