Modesto Roma Júnior (5 December 1952 – 14 July 2024) was a Brazilian businessman of the communications industry, and was the president of

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

for three years.

Personal life

Roma was born in

Santos, São Paulo Santos (, ''Saints''), officially Municipality of Estância Balneária de Santos, is a city and Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, founded in 1546 by the Portuguese n ...

. A journalism graduate, he abandoned his initial career after only three years, and became a businessman in the communications area shortly after. He was also the son of

's former president Modesto Roma, who took charge of the club from 1975 to 1978. Roma died on 14 July 2024, at the age of 71.

Santos FC

A Santos director from 2004 to 2009, under Marcelo Teixeira's reign (president of the club from 2000 to 2009), Roma submitted his presidential candidacy on 20 October 2014, being supported by Teixeira. On 13 December he was elected the new president, after winning by 1,329 votes. Roma officially took charge of ''Peixe'' on 1 January 2015, with the club immersed in a severe financial crisis left by the previous administration, with players having unpaid wages. Roma saw Aranha, Arouca,

Leandro Damião Leandro Damião da Silva dos Santos (; born 22 July 1989), known as Leandro Damião or simply Damião, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Coritiba. He has been capped at international level by Brazil. Club care ...

and Eugenio Mena take legal actions against the club due to unpaid wages, but only the Chilean had a favourable decision; he managed to reach agreements with the others, while Damião lost his case. He also managed to pay the players' wages on 30 January, while saving a total of R$23 million of wages in the year, due to the departures. After only signing players without paying any fee, Roma managed to gather a successful team during his first year in charge of Santos, winning the

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

and being runner-up in the

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

. He also created a

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

to serve as a transition between the youth setup and the main squad, copying the idea from the biggest European teams. After a successful first year, Roma was highly criticized by the supporters during the 2017 campaign, mainly due to Lucas Lima's contractual problems. He was succeeded by José Carlos Peres on 10 December 2017. Peres later revealed that Roma was using the club's corporate card for personal reasons, whilst also paying a total of R$24 million in agent fees.

References

External links

Biography in Máquina do Esporte
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roma, Modesto Junior 1952 births 2024 deaths People from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian businesspeople Santos FC