Romário
Romário de Souza Faria (born January 29, 1966 in Rio de Janeiro), better known simply as Romário, is a Brazilian football player. 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.
Romário is the 3rd highest scorer in the history of professional football, being surpassed only by Pelé and Puskas. On January 28 2006, one day after of their 40th aniversary, he scored his 950th goal (official FIFA count). He is pursuiting in 2006/2007 the 1.000 "One-Thousand" goal, a mark obtained only for 2 players in History: Pelé and Puskas.
Career
He started his career playing for Vasco da Gama, where he won two State Championships (1987/88). Between 1988 and 1992 he played for PSV Eindhoven, who won the Dutch league in 1989, 1991 and 1992. In 1993 he moved to FC Barcelona and won the Spanish League the same year. As a member of the Brazilian national team, Romário won the silver Olympic medal in Seoul in 1988. Partnering with Bebeto in the attack, he led his country to the
title, scoring five goals in the tournament. He was voted the most outstanding player of the tournament and captured the imagination of soccer fans everywhere with his incredible skill and touch. Romário was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994, after being the runner-up in 1993. In 1995 he returned to Brazil to play for Flamengo, spent the next year in Valencia.. In 1998, he missed out the World Cup due to injury and then returned to Flamengo until 1999.
Then he played again for Vasco da Gama, winning with them the Mercosur Cup and the Brazilian League in 2000. From 2002 Romario played for Fluminense. 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 in, Vasco da Gama, and has been playing then ever since. He has recently hinted that he might play for the entire season of 2006, and then retire, although his retirement has been announced innumerous times before.
On April 28th 2005, Romário played his last game with the Brazilian national team. He scored the second goal on Brazil's 3-0 win against Guatemala.
In 2005 at nearly 40 years of age, Romário scored an outstanding amount of goals (22) in the Brazilian Championship.
Despite rumors stating he would play in Corinthians or Fluminense during 2006 season, Romário decided to stay for another season at Vasco da Gama.
He is the second best scorer of all times in the Brazilian League being leading scorer 6 times.
Romário was named as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.
Title history
- Rio de Janeiro State Championship (1985-1999) - 7 times leading scorer, 4 titles
- KNVB Cup (1988-1991) - 3 times champion
- Netherland Honor Division (1991) - champion and three times leading scorer
- Seoul Olympic Games (1988) - silver medal
- Copa America (1989-1997) - 2 times champion and leading scorer
- Spanish League (1994) - champion and leading scorer
- FIFA World Cup 1994 - champion and Most Valuable Player Award Winner
- Confederations Cup (1997) - champion and leading scorer
- Brazilian Championship (2000) - champion