Cristian Gabriel Romero (born 27 April 1998) is an Argentine 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and the Argentina national team. Coming through the youth system, Romero began his senior career in 2016 at

Belgrano Belgrano may refer to: People * Joaquín Belgrano (1773–1848), an Argentine patriot * José Denis Belgrano (1844–1917), Spanish painter * Joseph Belgrano (1762–1823), Argentine military officer and politician, brother of Manuel * Manuel Be ...

. He moved to Italy in 2018, playing for

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 ...

. Romero was purchased by

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 ...

the following season; he was sent back on loan to Genoa before being sent on loan to

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

in 2020. After being nominated Serie A Best Defender in

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

with Atalanta, the club exercised the option of purchase before promptly loaning Romero to Tottenham with an obligation to buy. After a successful loan spell, Romero was signed by Tottenham in 2022, where he won the

2024–25 UEFA Europa League The 2024–25 UEFA Europa League was the 54th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 16th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. This was the first season played under ...

. Romero represented Argentina at the youth level at the

2017 South American U-20 Championship The 2017 South American Youth Football Championship (, ) was the 28th edition of the South American Youth Football Championship, a football competition for the under-20 national teams in South America organized by CONMEBOL. It was held in Ecuador f ...

. He made his senior debut in 2021 and was a key member of the squads that won the

2021 Copa América The 2021 Copa América was the 47th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football, football championship organised by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament took place in Brazil from 13 June to ...

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, and

2024 Copa América The 2024 Copa América was the 48th edition of the Copa América, the quadrennial international men's association football, soccer championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament was held in the United Sta ...

Club career

Belgrano

Having joined the youth team in 2014, Romero was promoted to

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

side

's first team in 2016; his debut came on 28 August, in a league match with Independiente. One month later, Romero played in both of Belgrano's

2016 Copa Sudamericana The 2016 Copa Sudamericana () was the 15th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary club association football, football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The 2016 Copa Sudamericana Finals, finals were originally to be played be ...

round of 16 draws against

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as heCoxa, is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909 by German immigrants, it is the olde ...

. In two seasons with Belgrano's first-team, he made nineteen appearances in all competitions.

Genoa

In July 2018, Romero joined

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 ...

. He scored his first senior goal in his second Genoa match, netting in a 2–2 draw with

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 ...

on 28 October, only to be sent off later.

Juventus

On 9 July 2019,

announced Romero was having a medical ahead of a requested transfer.

Return to Genoa (loan)

On 12 July 2019, Juventus announced the permanent acquisition of Romero from Genoa for €26 million, with the player remaining at his former club on loan for the rest of the season.

Atalanta

On 5 September 2020, Romero joined

on loan until 30 June 2022 with an option to buy. He was elected the best defender of the

2020–21 Serie A The 2020–21 Serie A (known as the Serie A Telecom Italia, TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 119th season of top-tier Italian association football, football, the 89th in a round-robin tournament, and the 11th since its organization under an ...

season.

Tottenham Hotspur

On 6 August 2021, Juventus announced that Atalanta had activated the option to sign Romero for €16 million. Later that day,

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

announced his signing from Atalanta on an initial season-long loan with an option to make the deal permanent. Romero debuted for the club on 15 August, coming on as a late substitute for

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg Pierre-Emile Kordt Højbjerg (born 5 August 1995) is a Danish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder and vice captain for club Olympique de Marseille, Marseille and Captain (association football), capt ...

in a match against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

that Tottenham won 1–0. On 19 August 2021, he made his first start in the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

first leg tie against

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

, which ended in a 1–0 defeat. Romero scored his first goal for Tottenham in a 2–0 victory over

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

. On 30 August 2022, he signed for Tottenham permanently with a contract lasting until 2027. Ahead of the 2023–24 Premier League season, Romero was named as one of Tottenham's vice-captains. He made a strong start to the season, being described by manager

Ange Postecoglou Angelos "Ange" Postecoglou ( ; ; born 27 August 1965) is a soccer manager and former player who was most recently manager of club Tottenham Hotspur. Born in Greece, Postecoglou grew up in Melbourne from the age of five. As a player, he spen ...

as the "rock" in Tottenham's defence, and earning a nomination for the Player of the Month award in October. However, on 6 November 2023, Romero was shown a straight red card during Tottenham's 4–1 loss to rivals Chelsea. It was his fourth red card since moving to the Premier League, more than any other player in that time. Romero scored on his return from suspension, Tottenham's only goal in a 2–1 loss to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. Romero played the entire

2025 UEFA Europa League final The 2025 UEFA Europa League final was the final match of the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League, the 54th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 16th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Eu ...

, securing a 1–0 win against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. He was awarded Player of the Match for his performance, winning his first club honour and Tottenham Hotspur's first major trophy in 17 years and their first European trophy in 41 years.

International career

Youth

Romero has represented Argentina at the

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA S ...

level, winning seven caps at the

in Ecuador. In April 2017, he was called up for Argentina's training camp ahead of the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 a ...

in South Korea but was not selected on the tournament squad list. Romero was called up for the U23s in September 2019.

Senior

On 3 June 2021, Romero debuted for the senior national team a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, playing the full match. In his second game for Argentina on 8 June, he scored his first international goal, coming from a thumping header against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

after only 130 seconds. This goal also broke the record for the fastest ever scored for Argentina in a professional match, surpassing

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

's goal after 168 seconds against

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

in 1985. In June 2021, Romero was included in

Lionel Scaloni Lionel Sebastián Scaloni (, ; born 16 May 1978) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of the Argentina national team. Under his leadership, Argentina achieved the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Scalon ...

's final Argentina 28-man squad for the

and the Team of the Tournament at the end as Argentina won the competition. Romero was also an integral part of the Argentinian team which won the

, in which he started in six out of seven matches including the final. In June 2024, Romero was included in Scaloni's final 26-man Argentina squad for the

Style of play

Romero has been described as a "proactive" defender always playing on the "front foot." This allows him to step up in the backline and make crucial interceptions in midfield. He is well known for his decision-making in his risky style of play. Romero is also known for his exceptional ability in the air and is adept at scoring headers in the box.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Romero goal.''

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur *

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 ...

: 2024–25 Argentina *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

: 2021, 2024 *

CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions The Finalissima or officially CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions, formerly known as European/South American Nations Cup and also called Artemio Franchi Cup, is an intercontinental football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA and contested by th ...

: 2022 Individual * Serie A Best Defender:

* Copa América Team of the Tournament:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Player of the Season: 2024–25 *

Team of the Season: 2024–25

References

External links

Profile
at the Tottenham Hotspur F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Cristian Living people 1998 births Footballers from Córdoba, Argentina Argentine men's footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Argentina men's youth international footballers Men's association football central defenders Argentine Primera División players Serie A players Premier League players UEFA Europa League–winning players Club Atlético Belgrano footballers Genoa CFC players Juventus FC players Atalanta BC players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players 2021 Copa América players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2024 Copa América players Copa América–winning players FIFA World Cup–winning players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Argentine expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century Argentine sportsmen