Romário Baldé (born 25 December 1996) is a 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 winger. A former youth international for Portugal, he plays for the Guinea-Bissau national team.

Club career

Born in

Bissau Bissau () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. it had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, its administr ...

, Baldé arrived in the youth ranks of Benfica at age 12, from local

Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela Amadora SAD (), sometimes just Estrela da Amadora, is a Portuguese professional sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. The team is currently competing in the Primeira Liga, after winnin ...

. He represented the club on the debut season of

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

, helping them progress all the way through the final, lost to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. The following season, the 17–year old made his professional debut for

Benfica B Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B" (), commonly known as Benfica B, is a Portuguese professional football team based in Seixal. Founded in 1999, dissolved in 2006, and restarted in 2012, it is the reserve team of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They play ...

in a

2014–15 Segunda Liga The 2014–15 Segunda Liga was the 25th season of the second-tier of football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualifi ...

match against C.D. Trofense on 9 August 2014. He also represented Benfica again in the

, reaching the quarter-finals against

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

, where he missed a penalty, attempted in panenka style, that would have given his team the lead. They were later eliminated in the penalty shootout. In May 2015, Baldé announced that he would be leaving the club, after he could not agree on a new contract with Benfica. However, two months later, he back-tracked on that decision and signed a five-year extension with Benfica, being immediately loaned to

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

side

Tondela Tondela () is a concelho, municipality in the Centro, Portugal, central Portugal, Portuguese subregion of Dão-Lafões. The population in 2011 was 28,946, in an area of 371.22 km2. History Local writer and intellectual Amadeu Ferraz de Carv ...

for one season. He made his debut for Tondela in the 1–0 loss against

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

on 13 September, and scored his first goal three weeks later in a 1–1 draw with

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim d ...

. Being regularly used throughout the season, he finished the campaign with 25 appearances and two goals. In the following season, Baldé was not loaned out and remained at Benfica B, appearing in 21 games and scoring once. On 25 August 2017, Baldé moved on a permanent deal to Polish club,

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Gdańsk. As of the 2025–26 Ekstraklasa, 2025–26 season, they compete in the Ekstraklasa. The club was founded in 1945 by people Polish population transfers (1944–1946 ...

, signing a three-year contract. On 31 August, he moved to Académica de Coimbra on a one-year loan with an option to sign permanently. In March 2023, Baldé joined

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club

Nantong Zhiyun Nantong Zhiyun Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Rugao, Jiangsu, that competes in . Nantong Zhiyun plays its home matches at the Rugao Olympic Sports Center, located within Rugao. The club was founded on 13 March ...

. On 24 February 2024, Baldé signed with fellow

club

Wuhan Three Towns Wuhan Three Towns Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Wuhan, Hubei, that competes in . Wuhan Three Towns plays its home matches at the Wuhan Sports Center, located within Caidian District. Wuhan Three Towns had remar ...

. On 7 February 2025, Baldé signed with

K League 1 The K League 1 () is a professional association football league in South Korea and the highest level of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. It is one of the most successful leagues in the Asian Foo ...

club

Gangwon FC Gangwon FC () is a South Korean football club based in Gangwon Province. They joined the K League as its 15th club for the 2009 season. The club is sponsored by High1 Resort. History Gangwon Province's governor Kim Jin-sun announced a sch ...

International career

Baldé represented Portugal at the

2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 13th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship since its reclassification from an under-18 event in 2002, and the 63rd since the tournament was created in 1948. Hungary was chosen to ho ...

, scoring one goal. He captained the Portugal U20s for the

2016 Toulon Tournament The 2016 Toulon Tournament was the 44th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It took place 18–29 May 2016. The tournament was used by several teams as preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The tournament was won by England. Participants ;AFC ...

. Baldé made his Guinea-Bissau national team debut on 8 June 2019 in a friendly against Angola, as a half-time substitute for Jorginho.

Career statistics

Honours

Benfica U19 *

runner-up: 2013–14 Portugal U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

runner-up:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balde, Romario 1996 births Living people Footballers from Bissau Bissau-Guinean men's footballers 21st-century Bissau-Guinean sportsmen Guinea-Bissau men's international footballers Portuguese men's footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Bissau-Guinean emigrants to Portugal Portuguese sportspeople of Bissau-Guinean descent Men's association football forwards S.L. Benfica B players Académica de Coimbra (football) players Liga Portugal 2 players C.D. Tondela players Gil Vicente F.C. players Leixões S.C. players Primeira Liga players Lechia Gdańsk players Ekstraklasa players Doxa Katokopias FC players AEL Limassol players Cypriot First Division players Romario Balde Romario Balde Nantong Zhiyun F.C. players Wuhan Three Towns F.C. players Chinese Super League players Gangwon FC players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Poland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in China Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen