Rômulo Souza Orestes Caldeira (born 22 May 1987), commonly known as Rômulo, is an Italian-Brazilian

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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Pelotas Pelotas () is a Brazilian city and Municipalities of Brazil, municipality (''município''), the fourth Largest cities in Rio Grande do Sul by population, most populous in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, after Porto Alegre, Caxias do Su ...

, Brazil, Rômulo began his professional footballing career within the youth ranks of Caxias in 2002. Having remained within the club's youth academy until 2006, Rômulo then transferred to Juventude, where he made his professional debut. Over the course of one year with the club, he appeared in 20 league matches and scored one goal. The following year, Rômulo was sold to fellow

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian side

Metropolitano Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...

, spending the 2007 and 2008 season with the club before signing with Chapecoense in 2008. After yet another one–year spell, Rômulo signed with

Santo André Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwad ...

in 2009, before adding to and continuing his status as a ''journeyman'' by signing with Cruzeiro in July 2010.

Cruzeiro

On 10 July 2010, Rômulo was officially presented as a reinforcement of Cruzeiro. He made his debut for the Brazilian giants on July 22, in a match against

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club () is a Brazilian sports club based in the neighbourhood of Laranjeiras, in Rio de Janeiro, being the oldest football club in the state since its foundation in 1902. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, th ...

. He went on to make 16 appearances for the club that season, scoring one goal. After less than one full calendar year, however, he was sent on loan to Atlético Paranaense. On 13 April 2011, Rômulo officially joined

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (abbreviated CAP, commonly known as Athletico Paranaense and up to 2019 known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded o ...

on loan from Cruzeiro, making just 6 appearances. He returned to Cruzeiro upon the conclusion of the loan agreement, and was soon thereafter sold to

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

Fiorentina

On 29 June 2011, Rômulo officially joined

following the agreement of a permanent transfer from Cruzeiro. He made his debut for ''La Viola'' on 21 September 2011, in a 3–0 home victory over

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. During his first season with the club, Rômulo appeared in just 10 league matches, and started in only 4 of them. During his second season in

, he managed to appear in 20 league fixtures (10 starts), and scored two goals. Despite the improved amount of playing time in his second season, Rômulo was sent out on loan to newly promoted Serie A club

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

in August 2013, with an option for his new club to acquire 50% of his transfer rights at the end of the

2013–14 Serie A The 2013–14 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 112th season of top-tier Italian football, the 82nd in a round-robin tournament, and the 4th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

season.

Hellas Verona

Rômulo officially transferred to the northern-Italian side on 13 August 2013, and made his official debut on 24 August in an unexpected 2–1 victory over

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

at the

Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi The Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi is a stadium in Verona, Italy. It is the home of Hellas Verona of Serie A and was also the home of Chievo Verona, a former football club, until 2021. It also hosts matches of women's team Bardolino Verona, some ...

in what was Verona's first Serie A match since 2002. He went on to become an integral part of the club's starting line-up under coach

Andrea Mandorlini Andrea Mandorlini (born 17 July 1960) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. Playing career Mandorlini made his playing debut on 4 February 1979 with Torino. He left Torino in 1980 to join then-Serie B team Atalanta. Aft ...

as the ''Scaglieri'' finished 10th in the league table, nearly qualifying for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. He appeared in 32 league matches and scored 6 goals. Verona exercised their option to sign 50% of the player's contractual rights upon the conclusion of the season. On 14 July 2014,

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

acquired full ownership of Rômulo.

Juventus

On 2 August 2014, Rômulo officially signed for

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

, on a year-long loan from

for €1m with an option for an outright buy for €6m. The deal means a buy-out clause becomes mandatory if Romulo plays “at least 60 per cent of Juventus' official games in the 2014–15 season”. The official statement notes the overall fixed value of the deal to be €6m – to be paid over three years – with a possible €1m in certain performance-based add-ons. He made his debut in the 2–0

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group stage win over

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

on 16 September, replacing

Stephan Lichtsteiner Stephan Lichtsteiner (; born 16 January 1984) is a Swiss former professional association football, footballer. An attacking right-back or wing-back (association football), wing-back, he was known for his energetic runs down the right winger, rig ...

in added time. Four days later he made his first Serie A appearance for the club, replacing the same player for the final seven minutes of a 1–0 win at

. Rômulo was sidelined for the rest of the first part of the season, however, due to continual problems with his adductor muscles, as well as athletic pubalgia; he was operated in December, which kept him out for three months. He returned to the pitch on 9 May 2015, in a 1–1 home draw against

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

; however, during Juventus's 2–1 away win over

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * Inter Playa del Carmen, a Mexican club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, ...

on 16 May, he suffered a myotendinous tear of the rectus femoris muscle in his left thigh, which kept him out for the rest of the season, as Juventus won a domestic

and

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

double, also reaching the

2015 UEFA Champions League Final The 2015 UEFA Champions League final was the final match of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, the 60th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion ...

. At the end of the season, Juventus chose not to renew his loan contract, resulting in his return to Verona.

Genoa

On 11 July 2018, Rômulo signed a contract with

side

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Lazio (loan)

On 31 January 2019, Rômulo joined

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

on loan with an option to buy.

Brescia (loan)

On 2 September 2019, on the last day of the summer transfer window, Rômulo joined newly promoted club Brescia on a single-season loan. He made his club debut on 15 September, setting up a goal for Alfredo Donnarumma in a 4–3 home loss to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. On 21 September, he scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 away win over

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

International career

An Italian citizen through ancestry, Rômulo was first called up by

Italy national football team The Italy national football team () has represented Italy in men's international Association football, football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for fo ...

coach

Cesare Prandelli Claudio Cesare Prandelli (; born 19 August 1957) is an Italian former football coach and former player. Playing career Prandelli was a midfielder who moved from Atalanta to Juventus in 1979. His first game for Juventus was in the 1979–80 Eur ...

in April 2014 for a stage, due to his impressive performances with Verona. On 13 May 2014, Rômulo's name was included in a provisional 30-man squad for the upcoming

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

, but on 1 June 2014, he was omitted from the final 23-man squad for the tournament on 1 June; Rômulo later stated on 2 June that although he had originally been included in Prandelli's final 23-man squad, he turned down the call-up, as he felt he felt he was not quite 100% in terms of his physical condition, and therefore preferred to offer his spot in the team to other players who were in better shape than him.

Style of play

A quick and hard-working

box-to-box In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

player, with notable stamina as well as good vision and technique, Rômulo is a tactically versatile footballer, who is capable of aiding his team both offensively and defensively. He is capable of playing anywhere in

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

, both in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, or on either

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

, or even as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

; he has also been used as a full-back or wing-back on the right flank.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Juventus *

: 2014–15 *

: 2014–15 ;Lazio *

: 2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romulo 1987 births Living people Italian men's footballers Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football defenders Footballers from Pelotas Sociedade Esportiva e Recreativa Caxias do Sul players Esporte Clube Juventude players Associação Chapecoense de Futebol players Esporte Clube Santo André players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Club Athletico Paranaense players ACF Fiorentina players Hellas Verona FC players Juventus FC players Genoa CFC players SS Lazio players Brescia Calcio players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players Campeonato Brasileiro Série D players Serie A players Serie B players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian people of Venetian descent 21st-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen