Romário de Souza Faria (born January 29, 1966 in Rio de Janeiro), better known simply as Romário, is a Brazilian football (soccer) player who currently plays for Miami FC of the USL First Division. He is one of a select group of players with over 50 goals in international matches and one of Brazil's most famous and outstanding forwards. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the game.
On January 28 2006, one day before his fortieth birthday, he scored his 950th goal (official FIFA count). He is currently pursuing the figure 1,000 goals, a mark officially obtained only by legendary Pelé.
He played for Vasco da Gama again in 2000, winning the Mercosur Cup, the Brazilian League, the South American and Brazilian Footballer of the Year award. From 2002 until 2004 he played for Fluminense. Romario was controversially left out of the 2002 Brazilian World Cup squad by Luiz Felipe Scolari, despite huge public demand for his inclusion. Fans from around the world sympathized with Romario and felt that the World Cup was deprived of one of its greatest performers. On October 21, 2004 he was fired from the club after a conflict with the coach. He then went back to play for the team he started at, Vasco da Gama. Then, in the beginning of 2006, he went to play with Miami FC along with former 1994 FIFA World Cup teammate Zinho. He has recently hinted that he might play for the entire season of 2006 and then retire, although his retirement has been announced numerous times before.
On April 28 2005, Romário played his last game with the Brazilian national team. He scored the second goal in Brazil's 3-0 win against Guatemala.
In 2005, at nearly 40 years of age, Romário scored an outstanding number of goals (22) in the Brazilian Championship, making him the league's top goalscorer. He is the second best scorer of all time in the Brazilian League, and has finished as leading scorer six times. Romário was named as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration in March 2004. Diego Maradona, in his autobiography,"El Diego", described Romario as an "incredible finisher" and that he had not seen a striker like him. He even went on to mention that Romario would be in his all time dream team without any hesitation.
1966 births | Living people | Brazilian footballers | Football (soccer) strikers | FIFA World Players of the Year | FIFA 100 | La Liga footballers | FC Barcelona footballers | Valencia CF footballers | PSV Eindhoven footballers | C.R. Flamengo players | Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama players | Fluminense Football Club players | Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics | Olympic competitors for Brazil | Afro-Brazilians | FIFA World Cup goalscorers | FIFA World Cup 1990 players | FIFA World Cup 1994 players | FIFA World Cup winners | Golden Ball winners
Romário | Romário | Romário | Romário | רומאריו | Romario de Souza Faria | Romário | Romário de Souza Faria | Romário | Romário | Romário | Romario | Romário | 罗马里奥