Romerito

---

title: "Romerito" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["paraguayan-men's-footballers", "paraguayan-expatriate-men's-footballers", "paraguay-men's-under-20-international-footballers", "paraguay-men's-international-footballers", "fifa-100", "men's-association-football-midfielders", "sportivo-luqueño-players", "campeonato-brasileiro-série-a-players", "fluminense-fc-players", "la-liga-players", "fc-barcelona-players", "paraguayan-primera-división-players", "club-olimpia-footballers", "club-cerro-corá-footballers", "north-american-soccer-league-(1968–1984)-players", "new-york-cosmos-(1970–1985)-players", "liga-mx-players", "club-puebla-players", "1986-fifa-world-cup-players", "deportes-la-serena-footballers", "expatriate-men's-footballers-in-brazil", "expatriate-men's-footballers-in-chile", "expatriate-men's-footballers-in-mexico", "expatriate-men's-footballers-in-spain", "expatriate-men's-soccer-players-in-the-united-states", "paraguayan-expatriate-sportspeople-in-brazil", "paraguayan-expatriate-sportspeople-in-chile", "paraguayan-expatriate-sportspeople-in-mexico", "paraguayan-expatriate-sportspeople-in-spain", "paraguayan-expatriate-sportspeople-in-the-united-states", "1960-births", "living-people", "footballers-from-luque", "1979-copa-américa-players", "1987-copa-américa-players", "south-american-footballer-of-the-year-winners", "copa-américa–winning-players", "20th-century-paraguayan-sportsmen"] description: "Paraguayan footballer (born 1960)" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romerito" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Paraguayan footballer (born 1960) ::

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

Field	Value
name	Romerito
image	Romerito Barcelona.gif
caption	Romerito in 1989
fullname	Julio César Romero Insfrán
height	1.73 m
birth_date
birth_place	Luque, Paraguay
position	Attacking midfielder
years1	1977–1979
clubs1	Sportivo Luqueño
caps1	113
goals1	33
years2	1980–1983
clubs2	New York Cosmos
caps2	104
goals2	37
years3	1983–1988
clubs3	Fluminense
caps3	211
goals3	59
years4	1989
clubs4	Barcelona
caps4	7
goals4	1
years5	1989–1990
clubs5	Puebla
caps5	81
goals5	16
years6	1990–1991
clubs6	Sportivo Luqueño
caps6	35
goals6	11
years7	1992
clubs7	Olimpia Asunción
caps7	24
goals7	9
years8	1993–1994
clubs8	Sportivo Luqueño
caps8	43
goals8	13
years9	1995
clubs9	Deportes La Serena
caps9	3
goals9	1
years10	1995
clubs10	Club Cerro Corá
caps10	1
goals10	0
years11	1996–1998
clubs11	Sportivo Luqueño
caps11	66
goals11	33
totalcaps	688
totalgoals	213
nationalyears1	1979–1990
nationalteam1	Paraguay
nationalcaps1	64
nationalgoals1	26
::

| name = Romerito | image = Romerito Barcelona.gif | caption = Romerito in 1989 | fullname = Julio César Romero Insfrán | height = 1.73 m | birth_date = | birth_place = Luque, Paraguay | currentclub = | position = Attacking midfielder | youthyears1 = | youthclubs1 = | years1 = 1977–1979 | clubs1 = Sportivo Luqueño | caps1 = 113 | goals1 = 33 | years2 = 1980–1983 | clubs2 = New York Cosmos | caps2 = 104 | goals2 = 37 | years3 = 1983–1988 | clubs3 = Fluminense | caps3 = 211 | goals3 = 59 | years4 = 1989 | clubs4 = Barcelona | caps4 = 7 | goals4 = 1 | years5 = 1989–1990 | clubs5 = Puebla | caps5 = 81 | goals5 = 16 | years6 = 1990–1991 | clubs6 = Sportivo Luqueño | caps6 = 35 | goals6 = 11 | years7 = 1992 | clubs7 = Olimpia Asunción | caps7 = 24 | goals7 = 9 | years8 = 1993–1994 | clubs8 = Sportivo Luqueño | caps8 = 43 | goals8 = 13 | years9 = 1995 | clubs9 = Deportes La Serena | caps9 = 3 | goals9 = 1 | years10 = 1995 | clubs10 = Club Cerro Corá | caps10 = 1 | goals10 = 0 | years11 = 1996–1998 | clubs11 = Sportivo Luqueño | caps11 = 66 | goals11 = 33 | totalcaps = 688 | totalgoals = 213 | nationalyears1 = 1979–1990 | nationalteam1 = Paraguay | nationalcaps1 = 64 | nationalgoals1 = 26

Julio César Romero Insfrán (born 28 August 1960), also known as Romerito, is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, considered among the greatest players in Paraguayan football history. He is the only Paraguayan named by Pelé as one of the FIFA 100 in March 2004.

Career

Born in Luque, Paraguay, Romero started his career at local club Sportivo Luqueño in 1977, by 1979 Romero's consistent performances had earned him a place in the Paraguay national team that played in the FIFA World Youth Championship and was considered one of the best players of the tournament along with Diego Maradona. In the same year, Romero played a key role in Paraguay's win in the Copa América, scoring three goals.

In 1980, he joined now defunct New York Cosmos where he played alongside such greats as the Brazilian and German World Cup winning captains of 1970 and 1974 Carlos Alberto and Franz Beckenbauer. In the 1980 Soccer Bowl he scored the game-winning goal of a 3–0 victory over Ft. Lauderdale.

Romero moved to Brazil to play for Fluminense where he was selected as the South American Footballer of the Year in 1985. He became a fan favorite after leading the team to a Campeonato Brasileiro.

In 1986, he was a key player in helping the Paraguay national team return to the FIFA World Cup finals after a 28-year hiatus. At the finals in Mexico, he scored against Iraq and the host nation in the first round.

After a short spell with FC Barcelona in Spain and a stint in Mexico with Puebla F.C. Romero returned to South America where he played out his career with Olimpia, Club Cerro Corá and Sportivo Luqueño in Paraguay and Deportes La Serena in Chile.

During his career, he scored a little more than 400 goals.

International goals

::data[format=table]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	31 October 1979	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil		2–2	2–2	1979 Copa América
2.	28 November 1979	Asunción, Paraguay		1–0	3–0
3.	3–0
4.	31 May 1981		3–0	3–1	1982 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.	5 October 1983	Lima, Peru		?–0	2–0	Friendly
6.	7 October 1983	Asunción, Paraguay		?–?	4–1
7.	?–?
8.	9 June 1985	Asunción, Paraguay		3–0	3–0	1986 FIFA World Cup qualification
9.	23 June 1985	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil		1–1	1–1
10.	27 October 1985	Asunción, Paraguay		2–0	3–0
11.	17 November 1985	Santiago, Chile		2–1	2–2
12.	4 June 1986	Toluca, Mexico		1–0	1–0	1986 FIFA World Cup
13.	7 June 1986	Mexico City, Mexico		1–1	1–1
::

Honours

New York Cosmos

• NASL: 1980, 1982

Fluminense

• Série A: 1984
• Campeonato Carioca: 1984, 1985

Barcelona

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1988–89

Puebla

• Primera División: 1989–90
• Copa Mexico: 1989–90

Olimpia Asunción

• Torneo República: 1992

Paraguay

• Copa América: 1979

Individual

• South American Footballer of the Year: 1985; Silver Award: 1979
• South American Team of the Year: 1986
• Paraguayan First Division top scorer: 1990
• FIFA top 125 greatest living footballers: 2004

Facts

• Romero is the equal 3rd highest goalscorer in the history of the Paraguay national team with 13 goals.
• Romero is a politician for the Colorado Party in his native city of Luque and works as a city counselor.
• In September 2006 Romero made his debut as a rock singer in the Paraguayan music festival called "Pilsen Rock". He took the stage as a guest of the popular local band Revolber and sang the opening words of the song "Siete hermanos, 1 misil" in front of a crowd of 40,000.

References

References

1. (30 March 2014). "25 años del fichaje poco exitoso de Romerito por el Barça".
2. (21 March 2015). ""Yendo al Barcelona sabía que me metía en la boca del lobo"".
3. "The Cosmos soared in Washington's steamy Soccer Bowl as - 09.29.80 - SI Vault".
4. [https://www.rsssf.org/tables/86qual.html World Cup 1986 qualifications by Karel Stokkermans, Sergio Henrique Jarreta and Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation]
5. [https://www.rsssf.org/tables/86full.html World Cup 1986 finals by Karel Stokkermans, Sergio Henrique Jarreta and Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation]
6. "Hemeroteca - El Mundo Deportivo - Home".
7. {{BDFutbol. 2916
8. "South American Player of the Year 1985".
9. "South American Player of the Year 1979".
10. (16 January 2009). "South American Team of the Year".
11. "Infoluque article".
12. [http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/1a_division/barcelona/es/desarrollo/689651.html Marca article]

::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. ::