Juan Miguel "Johnny" del Gallego Romualdez was a former Philippine international footballer and former President of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF).

Early life and education

Johnny Romualdez was born to a family of doctors and was the second eldest child among his six other siblings. His father was Alberto Zialcita Romualdez (1913-1986), former Secretary General of the

World Medical Association The World Medical Association (WMA) is an international and independent confederation of free professional medical associations representing physicians worldwide. WMA was formally established on September 18, 1947 and has grown to 115 national ...

(1965-1973) and whose brother was

Daniel Z. Romualdez Daniel Zialcita Romualdez (September 11, 1907 – March 22, 1965) was a Filipino politician who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 1957 to 1962. He was first cousin to former First Lady Imelda Marcos. ...

, the 10th

Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines The speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines ( fil, Ispiker ng Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas), more popularly known as the House speaker, is the presiding officer and the highest-ranking official of the lower house ...

(1958-1962). His mother was Covadonga Ubante del Gallego (1915-2004), a former chairman of the Pathology Department of the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Migue ...

Hospital. His siblings include former

Secretary of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

Alberto Romualdez and Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez. Romualdez attended Ateneo where he attained his

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

. He started playing football at age 11. He studied at the institution from Grade 1. He had to repeat one whole school year of 2nd year high school education after he failed to meet his requirements. During his college years he received a scholarship from the YCO Athletic Club.

Football career

Romualdez played football for the

Ateneo Blue Eagles The Ateneo Blue Eagles are the collegiate varsity teams of the Ateneo de Manila University that play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the premiere collegiate league in the Philippines. The collegiate women's ...

where he served as co-captain of the high school varsity team (1957–1958) and captain of the college varsity team (1961-1962). He was inducted into the Ateneo Hall of Fame in 1997. He joined the national team in 1958 and was part of the squad that participated at the

1962 Asian Games ) , Host city = Jakarta, Indonesia , Nations participating = 17 , Athletes participating = 1,460 , Events = 120 in 13 sports , Opening ceremony = 24 August 1962 , Closing ceremony = 4 September 1962 , ...

. His last appearance was in 1967 at the 1968 Olympics qualifiers when he served as captain of the national team. The team suffered its worst defeat in a 0–15 match against Japan. He and a group of friends established the Blue Guards F.C. in the 1960s.

Post-retirement

Romualdez was appointed as manager of the U-20 national football team which was organized under the Kasibulan grassroot program in the 1970s. He also ran several businesses in the mid 1970s. Romualdez also worked at the Philippine Football Federation and served as Executive Vice President. He was elected President of the football association in 2004.

Personal life

His older brother, Alberto Romualdez Jr. (1940-2013), was regarded by many as the "Pioneer of Universal Health Care" and was the former Secretary of Health (1998-2001) of the

Department of Health (Philippines) The Department of Health (DOH; fil, Kagawaran ng Kalusugan) is the Executive Departments of the Philippines, executive department of the government of the Philippines responsible for ensuring access to basic public health services by all Filipi ...

and a fellow on Tumor Immunology at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

and Membrane Biophysics at the

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. His grandfather, Miguel Lopez Romualdez (1882-1950) served as mayor of Manila (1924-1927) during the American colonial period and Assemblyman of

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

during the Commonwealth Era.

References

Living people Filipino footballers Philippines international footballers 1940s births

Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varian ...

Ateneo de Manila University alumni Presidents of the Philippine Football Federation Association footballers not categorized by position {{Philippines-footy-bio-stub Filipino people of Spanish descent