Sunday, September 23, 2007

Romário


Romário de Souza Faria (born January 29, 1966), better known simply as Romário, is a Brazilian legendary football center forward who helped the Brazil national team win the 1994 FIFA World Cup and has been one of the most prolific strikers in the world since the 1990s, having had successful tenures with European clubs PSV Eindhoven and FC Barcelona, and in Brazil with Vasco da Gama. His professional career has extended past age 40, an age by which most professional footballers have retired.

He is the third highest goalscorer in the history of the Brazilian team, as well as the second highest scorer of all time in the Brazilian League, in which he has finished as the top scorer three times. He was selected the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994 and is catalogued as one of the greatest stars in the history of the game by FIFA.

Romário was named as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration in March 2004.

One thousandth goal
On May 20, 2007, Romário scored his 1000th goal, a penalty kick against Sport Recife, playing for Vasco da Gama. He claims he is the second player in professional football history to achieve this, after Pelé in 1969 (some also claim that Arthur Friedenreich and Franz Binder each scored 1000 goals, see Football top goalscorers). There is much controversy over the validity of the 1000 goals as Romario includes goals scored in youth, friendly and testimonial games. The 1000th goal drew much attention from both Brazilian and international press.On the milestone day, however, many in the international press stated the 1000th goal claim is somewhat inaccurate, because Romário counted his goals in junior, friendly and non-official games.

FIFA congratulated Romário on his milestone goal but stated he is still officially on 929 goals.
-Club career

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