Cléver Marcelo Romero Silva (born 4 July 1976) is a Uruguayan former

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 played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, and is a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. After emerging at

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (), more commonly referred to as Peñarol, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club currently competes in the Uruguayan Primera División, the highest tier in Uruguayan football. The nam ...

he spent seven years of his professional career in Spain, notably at the service of

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

(six seasons), and played for

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

at the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

Club career

Born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Romero played in the beginning of his career for local teams

Defensor Sporting Defensor Sporting Club is a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 1913, Defensor has several sports sections, with football and basketball being the most important and the ones in which the club has achieved significant achievement ...

and

. In the middle of 2001 he was bought by

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

, teaming up with countryman

Darío Silva Darío Debray Silva Pereira (born 2 November 1972) is a Uruguayan retired professional footballer who played as a striker. After making a name for himself in his country and in Italy with Cagliari, he spent the following seven years of his car ...

. He was instrumental at the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

side during his first four years, helping them to the quarter-finals of the 2002–03

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

via Via or VIA may refer to the following: Arts and entertainment * ''Via'' (Volumes album), 2011 * Via (Thalia Zedek album), 2013 * VIA (music), Soviet and Russian term for a music collective Businesses and organisations * Via Foundation, a Cz ...

the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

.Clever Marcelo Romero Silva, el 'Gato' del Málaga CF (Clever Marcelo Romero Silva, Málaga CF's 'Cat')

Vavel Vavel (stylized VAVEL) is a Spain-based sports news website. It has 8 editions; Spain, United States, United Kingdom, France, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, and Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country p ...

, 15 November 2015 (in Spanish) In his final two seasons, however, Romero was virtually absent from the lineups, with 2006–07 being spent, with no success, in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. In early 2008 he had a brief spell with neighbours

Lucena CF Lucena Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Lucena, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1968, it was dissolved in 2015. History ''Lucena Club de Fútbol'' was founded in 1968. It was originally ...

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

and, on 4 February 2009, signed with

Carolina RailHawks FC North Carolina FC is an American professional association football, soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 2006, the team previously was named the Caro ...

of the

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

. It quickly became apparent that he had suffered significant knee injuries which were not widely publicised, but subsequently all was revealed; physical problems limited him to one substitute appearance in a pre-season

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

, and he was released in April without having featured in the league. Romero started working as a manager also in Spain, with amateurs

Alhaurín de la Torre CF Alhaurín de la Torre Club de Fútbol is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Alhaurín de la Torre, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1969, it currently plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio ...

. He returned to Málaga in 2014, joining newly appointed

Javi Gracia Javier "Javi" Gracia Carlos (; born 1 May 1970) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He totalled 430 matches across both major levels of Spanish football, in a 15-year professional career. Afte ...

's coaching staff. On 28 December 2016, following

Juande Ramos Juan de la Cruz "Juande" Ramos Cano (born 25 September 1954) is a former Spanish footballer and manager. After playing and managing at an amateur level, Ramos led Rayo Vallecano to promotion to La Liga, followed by reaching the quarter-finals ...

' dismissal, Romero was appointed first-team manager indefinitely. The following 7 March, he was relieved of his duties.

International career

Romero made his debut for the Uruguay national team on 20 September 1995, in a 1–3 away friendly defeat against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. After taking part in two

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 ...

editions,Copa América 1999
at RSSSF he played two games for his country at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

(the group stage draws to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

).Senegal cling on to qualify
BBC Sport, 11 June 2002 In total, Romero earned 24

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

in a nine-year span.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Club

Málaga *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

International

Uruguay *

: Runner-up

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

References

External links

*
National team data
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Marcelo 1976 births Living people Uruguayan people of Spanish descent Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Uruguayan Primera División players Defensor Sporting players Peñarol players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Málaga CF players Lucena CF players North Carolina FC players Uruguay men's international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players 1997 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Uruguayan football managers La Liga managers Málaga CF managers Uruguayan expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Spain