Cléver Marcelo Romero Silva (born 4 July 1976) is a Uruguayan retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and is a manager. After emerging at Peñarol he spent seven years of his professional career in Spain, notably at the service of

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

(six seasons), and played for Uruguay at the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

Club career

Born in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Romero played in the beginning of his career for local teams Defensor Sporting and Peñarol. In the middle of 2001 he was bought by La Liga club

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

, teaming up with countryman Darío Silva. He was instrumental at the Andalusia side during his first four years, helping them to the quarter-finals of the 2002–03 UEFA Cup,

via Via or VIA may refer to the following: Science and technology * MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter * ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae * Via (electronics), a through-connection * VIA Technologies, a Taiwan ...

the Intertoto Cup.Clever Marcelo Romero Silva, el 'Gato' del Málaga CF (Clever Marcelo Romero Silva, Málaga CF's 'Cat')
Vavel, 15 November 2015 (in Spanish) In his final two seasons, however, Romero was virtually absent from the lineups, with 2006–07 being spent, with no success, in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

. In early 2008 he had a brief spell with neighbours Lucena CF of

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

and, on 4 February 2009, signed with Carolina RailHawks FC of the USL First Division. It quickly became apparent that he had suffered significant knee injuries which were not widely publicised, but subsequently all was revealed; physical problems limited him to one substitute appearance in a pre-season

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

, and he was released in April without having featured in the league. Romero started working as a manager also in Spain, with amateurs Alhaurín de la Torre CF. He returned to Málaga in 2014, joining newly appointed Javi Gracia's coaching staff. On 28 December 2016, following

Juande Ramos Juan de la Cruz "Juande" Ramos Cano (born 25 September 1954) is a Spanish former footballer and manager. After playing and managing at an amateur level, Ramos led Rayo Vallecano to promotion to La Liga, followed by reaching the quarter-finals o ...

' dismissal, Romero was appointed first-team manager indefinitely. The following 7 March, he was relieved of his duties.

International career

Romero made his debut for the Uruguay national team on 20 September 1995, in a 1–3 away friendly defeat against Israel. After taking part in two

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

editions,Copa América 1999
at RSSSF he played two games for his country at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

(the group stage draws to France and Senegal).Senegal cling on to qualify
BBC Sport, 11 June 2002 In total, Romero earned 24 caps in a nine-year span.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Club

Málaga *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

International

Uruguay *

: Runner-up

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

References

External links

*
National team data
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Marcelo 1976 births Living people Uruguayan people of Spanish descent Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Uruguayan Primera División players Defensor Sporting players Peñarol players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Málaga CF players Lucena CF players North Carolina FC players Uruguay men's international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players 1997 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Uruguayan football managers La Liga managers Málaga CF managers Uruguayan expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Spain