Fifteen years after retiring, legendary Brazilian striker Romario is back: América de Rio de Janeiro, the club he presides, signed him to try to climb the division in the Carioca Championship. “I am not going to compete in the championship, but I will play some games with my heart’s team and fulfill one more dream: playing alongside my son.“he wrote on his Instagram account. Baixinho, 58, considered one of the best forwards in historywill defend the colors of the team that he has presided over since January and for which he briefly played in 2009.
The world champion with Brazil in 1994 was registered to compete in the second division of the Rio de Janeiro state tournament (Carioca Series A2 Championship), which starts in May and ends in August.
The winner of the contest will play in the Rio first division at the beginning of 2025where teams from Rio that participate in the Brazilian elite compete, such as Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco da Gama and Botafogo. Romario was elected president of América in November for a three-year term. He combines that position with that of federal senator for Rio, for which he was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2022.
In 2009, when he was the team’s football manager, he briefly interrupted his retirement.announced a year earlier, to perform for the beloved eleven of his father Edevair, who died in 2008. He played about 30 minutes in the match that gave them the title of Rio’s fourth division. His father, a fervent ‘Mecão’ fan, dreamed of seeing him defend the club, something that did not happen in the best moments of Chapulín’s successful career.
In América, Romario will share with his son, the attacker Romarinho, hired in March, and the forward André Felipe, Neymar’s former teammate at Santos and with passages in Dynamo kyiv, Bordeaux in France and Sporting Lisbon, among others.
Founded in 1904 and winner of seven first division Carioca Championships, America is going through a harsh economic crisis. As president, Romario has the mandate to clean up the finances and ensure that the team competes in a national competition in 2025.