Ex-Barça: Romario to play with America

Brazilian second division club América has on Thursday officially announced that former Barcelona striker and Brazilian international Romário (43) has agreed to come out of retirement to play some games with the club.

In a reaction, Romario told journalist that his father was a supporter of the club and would have wanted his son to join them at some point in his career: "I'm preparing to play and should be registered next week. I will feature in one or two official matches to realise my father's dream."

Romarío is currently sports director of América. Last year, the Brazilian striker announced his retirement as active football player after his contract with Brazilian first division club Vasco da Gama had expired.

Arriving from Dutch club PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 1993, Romário played one and a half season for Barcelona. Due to disciplinary problems, "O Baixinho" (the little one) left for Flamengo in January of the year 1995. Romário won the Spanish league title with Barcelona in 1994, becoming that same season the top goalscorer in the Liga with 30 goals. In the same year, he won the Spanish Super Cup with the team.

In 1994, Romário won the World Cup in the United States with the Brazilian national team and was awarded the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball. At the end of that year, he was chosen FIFA World Player of the Year.

Read more:
Ex-Barça: Romario retires
Ex-Barça: Luis Garcia to Racing Santander
Ex-Barça: RIP Sir Bobby Robson (1933-2009)

Ex-Barça: Romario retires

He has don it before, but this time it could be for real. At the presentation earlier this week of a dvd compilation with almost all the goals he scored during his career, former Barcelona forward Romário de Souza Faria (42) announced the end of his career as a professional football player:

"It's officially over. My time is up. I don't have the physical condition anymore. Now it's up to the others. I've done everthing that I wanted in football. I'm happy with all the things I've done, with the shirts I have worn and the trophies I have won."

Romário played his last game last year with Brazilian club Vasco da Gama. During his career, the striker played for clubs in Brazil (Vasco da Gama, Flamengo and Fluminense), the Netherlands (PSV Eindhoven), Spain (Barcelona and Valencia), Qatar (Al-Sadd), the United States (Miami) and Australia (Adelaide).

In 1994, Romário won the World Cup in the United States with the Brazilian national team and was awarded the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball. At the end of that year, he was chosen FIFA World Player of the Year.

Arriving from Dutch club PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 1993, Romário played one and a half season for Barcelona. Due to disciplinary problems, "O Baixinho" (the little one) left for Flamengo in January of the year 1995. Romário won the Spanish league title with Barcelona in 1994, becoming that same season the top goalscorer in the Liga with 30 goals. In the same year, he won the Spanish Super Cup with the team.

Read more:
Ex-Barça: Ronald de Boer
Ex-Barça: Llorenç Serra Ferrer
Ex-Barça: Phillip Cocu

Read all ex-Barça stories here.