Robert Rosario

---

title: "Robert Rosario" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1966-births", "living-people", "english-men's-footballers", "harrow-borough-f.c.-players", "norwich-city-f.c.-players", "wolverhampton-wanderers-f.c.-players", "coventry-city-f.c.-players", "nottingham-forest-f.c.-players", "charleston-battery-players", "north-carolina-fusion-u23-players", "england-men's-under-21-international-footballers", "english-people-of-indian-descent", "sportspeople-of-indian-descent", "british-people-of-anglo-indian-descent", "british-asian-footballers", "english-people-of-german-descent", "men's-association-football-forwards", "premier-league-players", "footballers-from-london", "english-expatriate-sportspeople-in-the-united-states", "expatriate-men's-soccer-players-in-the-united-states", "english-expatriate-men's-footballers"] description: "English footballer (born 1966)" topic_path: "technology/web" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rosario" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary English footballer (born 1966) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox football biography"]

Field	Value
name	Robert Rosario
fullname	Robert Michael Rosario
birth_date
birth_place	London, England
height	6 ft 3 in
position	Forward
youthclubs1	Harrow Borough
youthclubs2	Hillingdon Borough
years1	1983–1991
clubs1	Norwich City
caps1	126
goals1	18
years2	1985
clubs2	→ Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan)
caps2	2
goals2	1
years3	1991–1993
clubs3	Coventry City
caps3	59
goals3	8
years4	1993–1996
clubs4	Nottingham Forest
caps4	27
goals4	3
years5	1996
clubs5	→ Greensboro Dynamo (loan)
caps5	0
goals5	0
years6	1997
clubs6	Carolina Dynamo
caps6	24
goals6	3
years7	1998
clubs7	Charleston Battery
caps7	22
goals7	0
years8	1999–2000
clubs8	Carolina Dynamo
caps8	11
goals8	1
totalcaps	271
totalgoals	34
nationalyears1	1985
nationalyears2	1987
nationalteam2	England U21
nationalcaps2	4
nationalgoals2	0
manageryears1	2001
managerclubs1	Carolina Dynamo
::

| name = Robert Rosario | image = | image_size = | caption = | fullname = Robert Michael Rosario | birth_date = | birth_place = London, England | height = 6 ft 3 in | position = Forward | youthyears1 = | youthclubs1 = Harrow Borough | youthyears2 = | youthclubs2 = Hillingdon Borough | years1 = 1983–1991 | clubs1 = Norwich City | caps1 = 126 | goals1 = 18 | years2 = 1985 | clubs2 = → Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan) | caps2 = 2 | goals2 = 1 | years3 = 1991–1993 | clubs3 = Coventry City | caps3 = 59 | goals3 = 8 | years4 = 1993–1996 | clubs4 = Nottingham Forest | caps4 = 27 | goals4 = 3 | years5 = 1996 | clubs5 = → Greensboro Dynamo (loan) | caps5 = 0 | goals5 = 0 | years6 = 1997 | clubs6 = Carolina Dynamo | caps6 = 24 | goals6 = 3 | years7= 1998 | clubs7 = Charleston Battery | caps7 = 22 | goals7 = 0 | years8 = 1999–2000 | clubs8 = Carolina Dynamo | caps8 = 11 | goals8 = 1 | totalcaps = 271 | totalgoals = 34 | nationalyears1 = 1985 | nationalteam1 = England U19 | nationalcaps1 = 3 | nationalgoals1 = 0 | nationalyears2 = 1987 | nationalteam2 = England U21 | nationalcaps2 = 4 | nationalgoals2 = 0 | manageryears1 = 2001 | managerclubs1 = Carolina Dynamo

Robert Michael Rosario (born 4 March 1966) is an English football coach and former professional player. He has represented England at youth level internationally.

As a player, he was a forward who notably played in the top flight of English football for Norwich City, Coventry City and Nottingham Forest, with appearances in the Premier League for both the Sky Blues and The Reds. He also played for Wolverhampton Wanderers and later finished his career in the United States with Greensboro Dynamo, Carolina Dynamo and Charleston Battery. Rosario was the first British Asian to play in the Premier League.

Playing career

Rosario started his career in non-league football, joining Hillingdon Borough from Harrow Borough in August 1983 at the age of 17. Five goals in nine Southern League starts alerted scouts and in December 1983, he joined Norwich City. He made 161 appearances in six seasons and scored just 29 goals.

Rosario signed for Coventry City for £600,000 by Terry Butcher in April 1991 he was seen to be the successor to Cyrille Regis.

It was in his second season after the arrival of a new manager, Bobby Gould and a new striker, Micky Quinn, that Rosario began to feature more, providing many chances for Quinn who notched 17 goals in 26 games in the 1992–93 season. In March 1993, with City's financial situation worsening he was sold to Nottingham Forest for £450,000. His last appearance for Forest came in April 1994, as injuries took hold, and although he was fully fit for the 1995–96 season, he was no longer part of Clark's plans at the City Ground and left at the end of the season, signalling the end of his playing career by the age of 30.

After his move to Forest he struggled to win a regular place and suffered a serious knee injury which eventually forced his retirement from the professional game in England.

In February 1997, he joined the Carolina Dynamos of the USA's Second Division, the A-League, for whom he made 29 appearances, scoring four goals. In April 1998, he joined another A League side, the Charleston Battery from South Carolina.

International career

Rosario has represented the England U21 team in 1987.

Coaching career

Rosario had a spell in charge of Carolina Dynamo in 2001.

Personal life

Born in England, Rosario is of Anglo-Indian descent from his father's side and German descent from his mother's side. Rosario's father was born in Calcutta and was a cyclist and bodybuilder. He became the first British Asian to play in the Premier League when he started for Coventry City against Middlesbrough on 15 August 1992 (this was previously attributed to Jimmy Carter who played later in the opening weekend of the new competition).

Rosario resides in North Carolina, where he has coached at the North Meck Soccer club.

His son Gabriel is a former Reading and Huddersfield Town youth team goalkeeper.

References

Sources

References

1. (1993). "Rothmans Football Yearbook: 1993–1994". Headline.
2. "Football photographic encyclopedia, footballer, world cup, champions league, football championship, olympic games & hero images by sporting-heroes.net".
3. (5 August 2004). "Where are they now - Robert Rosario".
4. "England - U-21 International Results 1986-1995 - Details".
5. Walker-Khan, Miriam. (17 May 2024). "'I wanted to be white and English' - the story of Robert Rosario: the Premier League's first South Asian player".
6. "Where Are They Now? | Footballers | Robert Rosario".
7. (May 2020). "What happened to Forest team from Brian Clough's final home game?".
8. "Young 'Keeper Gabriel Rosario Joins Town".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::