Julio César Romero Insfrán (born 28 August 1960), nicknamed ''Romerito'', is a Paraguayan former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, considered among the greatest players in Paraguayan football history. He is the only Paraguayan named by

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

as one of the FIFA 100 in March 2004.

Career

Born in Luque, Paraguay, Romero started his career at local club Sportivo Luqueño in 1977, by 1979 Romero's consistent performances had earned him a place in the Paraguay national team that played in the

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...

and was considered one of the best players of the tournament along with

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

. In the same year, Romero played a key role in Paraguay's win in the

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 ...

, scoring three goals. In 1980, he joined now defunct New York Cosmos where he played alongside such greats as the Brazilian and German World Cup winning captains of 1970 and 1974 Carlos Alberto and

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...

. In the 1980 Soccer Bowl he scored the game-winning goal of a 3–0 victory over

Ft. Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

. Romero moved to Brazil to play for Fluminense where he was selected as the South American Footballer of the Year in 1985. He became a fan favorite after leading the team to a Campeonato Brasileiro. In 1986, he was a key player in helping the Paraguay national team return to the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

finals after a 28-year hiatus. At the finals in Mexico, he scored against Iraq and the host nation in the first round. After a short spell with

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in Spain and a stint in Mexico with

Puebla F.C. Club Puebla, formerly Puebla F.C. is a Mexican professional football club based in the city of Puebla, competing in the Liga MX. Known as ''La Franja'' ("The Striped Ones"), the team shirt features a diagonal stripe (traditionally blue on white ...

Romero returned to South America where he played out his career with Olimpia, Club Cerro Corá and Sportivo Luqueño in Paraguay and Deportes La Serena in Chile. During his career, he scored a little more than 400 goals.

Honours

New York Cosmos * NASL:

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

Fluminense * Série A:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

: 1984, 1985 Barcelona *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1988–89 Puebla *

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

: 1989–90 *

Copa Mexico The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican football cup competition that was established in 1907. After a lengthy hiatus that began in 1997, it wa ...

: 1989–90 Olimpia Asunción *

Torneo República The Torneo República (''Republic Tournament'') is a defunct official football tournament from Paraguay. The competition was held at the beginning of the year and its purpose was to integrate teams from the Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: ...

: 1992 Paraguay *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Individual * South American Footballer of the Year: 1985 * Paraguayan First Division top scorer: 1990 * FIFA top 125 greatest living footballers: 2004

Facts

*Romero is the equal 3rd highest goalscorer in the history of the Paraguay national team with 13 goals. *Romero is a politician for the Colorado Party in his native city of Luque and works as a city counselor. *In September 2006 Romero made his debut as a rock singer in the Paraguayan music festival called "Pilsen Rock". He took the stage as a guest of the popular local band Revolber and sang the opening words of the song "Siete hermanos, 1 misil" in front of a crowd of 40,000.Marca article
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References

External links

* *
Romero's debut as a rock singer (video)

Romero listed in the top 10

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Romerito Paraguayan footballers Paraguayan expatriate footballers Paraguay under-20 international footballers Paraguay international footballers FIFA 100 Association football midfielders Sportivo Luqueño players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Fluminense FC players La Liga players FC Barcelona players Paraguayan Primera División players Club Olimpia footballers Cerro Corá footballers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players New York Cosmos players Liga MX players Club Puebla players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Deportes La Serena footballers Expatriate footballers in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Chile Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate soccer players in the United States Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Chile Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States 1960 births Living people Sportspeople from Luque 1979 Copa América players 1987 Copa América players South American Footballer of the Year winners Copa América-winning players