Romario enchanted an entire football world.
After football life, he made an unexpected career choice.
That’s how the brass icon lives today.
Romario was the cog in the Brazilian national team that dominated world football in the late 80s and early 90s. His team won the Copa America in 1989 and 1997, the FIFA Confederations Cup in 1997 – but above all, perhaps the most classic of all the World Cups, 1994.
Incredible career
Even at club team level, Romario was superior. He had his big breakthrough in the Netherlands and PSV, where he won the Eredivisie three times, which led to a move to Barcelona. He joined Johan Cruyff’s “Dream Team” in 1993, and then played with players such as Hristo Stoichkov, José Mari Bakero, Michael Laudrup and Ronald Koeman. When Barcelona won the title the following year, it was largely thanks to Romario, who smashed in as many as 30 goals in 33 matches. In 1994, he was named the world’s best player – but at the same time he was controversial.
In 1994, he beat Sevilla’s Diego Simeone – now an acclaimed coach of Atlético Madrid – and was suspended for five matches. Just a few months later, he ended up in a dispute with his coach and left Barcelona. And Romario never became the same again. There were games in Brazil, USA and Australia before the end of his career, 2007. But everyone agrees that few players have been as talented and with such a high level as Romario. If only he had been a little more disciplined…
He does today
However, Romario did not stay out of the limelight in his native Brazil for very long after finishing his career. In 2010, he chose to enter politics, and he was not directly cautious when he saw that Brazil was awarded the World Cup in 2014 – when he considered it to be just a way to ignore corruption and money laundering in the country.
He was also one of the loudest opponents against Fifa when Russia was awarded the World Cup 2018, when he believed that corruption was behind it all. He has taken great strides and in 2014 became the senator from Rio de Janeiro with the most votes ever. He is still a politician in Rio de Janeiro today, and is still trying to become governor. However, Romario has now openly gone out and supported the controversial president Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing nationalist who has received enormous criticism for, above all, pausing the entire country’s climate work, and at the same time opening up for a greater exploitation of the Amazon.
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