Factbox on former Brazil striker Romario, who officially announced his retirement at the age of 42 on Monday.
- Born in Rio de Janeiro on January. 30, 1966.
- Always controversial and outspoken, Romario publicly admitted he disliked training and said he played better after a night on the town. He once labelled Vasco da Gama team mate Edmundo a court jester and described Pele as "a poet when he's quiet".
- Images: Romario hangs up his boots
- In 1999, he was sacked by Flamengo for spending a night on the town in Caxias do Sul, where he was photographed with the Queen of the Grape Festival immediately after his side had lost a decisive match in the Brazilian championship.
- Made 73 appearances for Brazil, scoring 56 goals. His debut was against Ireland in 1987 and his final appearance against Guatemala in 2005. He played at the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and was ever-present in the latter as he scored five goals and helped Brazil win their fourth World Cup. He was dropped on the eve of the 1998 World Cup because of injury and overlooked for 2002 by coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, despite public opinion in his favour.
- His professional debut was for Vasco da Gama against Coritiba in the Brazilian championship in June, 1985. He also played for PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona and Valencia, had three more stints with Vasco and played for their Rio de Janeiro rivals Flamengo and Fluminense. In the last few years of his career, he briefly played for Al Saad in Qatar, Miami FC in the United States and Adelaide United in Australia.
- Romario scored what he claimed to be his 1,000th goal with a penalty in the 3-1 win over Sport Recife in a Brazilian championship match in May. However, 77 of these goals were scored at youth team level, including seven when he was playing for Olaria as a 13-year-old in the infants category. Another 172 were scored in matches which would not normally be termed competitive. He went on to score two more goals, the last against Gremio in July.
- He played his last professional game in November, coming on as a substitute for Vasco da Gama in their Brazilian championship match against Internacional. In December, he was banned for 120 days after testing positive for the banned masking agent finasteride. This was overturned on appeal two months later after it was accepted that the substance was contained in a lotion he had been using for hair loss.
- Romario also took on the role of Vasco's player-coach at the start of the year but quit after five games, complaining that club president Eurico Miranda was interfering in team selection.
