Romain Jules Salin (born 29 July 1984) is a French 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He spent most of his professional career in Portugal's

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 ...

, making 140 appearances for

Naval A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operatio ...

, Marítimo, Rio Ave and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, winning a

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

and two

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

titles with the last of those clubs. He debuted in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

at age 32, representing

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 7,115 as of 2020, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Guin ...

and

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Mayenne Mayenne ( ) is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Il ...

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; but can also mean 'Lower Loire') is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, located on the country's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital an ...

, Salin spent six of his first seven seasons as a senior in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

, in representation of

Stade Lavallois Stade Lavallois Mayenne Football Club (), also referred to as Stade Lavallois or simply Laval,Stade Laval, used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, is not a grammatically correct name for the club. is a Football in France, F ...

FC Lorient Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (;), commonly referred to as FC Lorient (), is a French professional association football club based in Lorient, Brittany. The club was founded in 1926 and currently competes in Ligue 2, having been relegated f ...

, FC Libourne and

Tours FC Tours Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tours (), was a football club based in Tours, France. Formed in 1919, the club adopted the name Tours FC in 1951 after several other name changes. The club was dissolved on 26 February 2025 d ...

. In 2007–08 he was part of the second club's

squad, but failed to make any competitive appearances.

Naval

In the 2010 off-season, Salin moved to Portugal where he would remain the following six years, signing with

Associação Naval 1º de Maio Associação Naval 1º de Maio or Associação Naval 1893, commonly known as Naval, was a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District. Founded on 1 May 1893, it last played in the Division of Honour i ...

who was coached by compatriot

Victor Zvunka Victor Zvunka (; born 15 November 1951) is a French former association football, football Defender (association football), defender and football manager most recently in charge of Sporting Club Toulon. Zvunka was born in Le Ban-Saint-Martin. Ho ...

. He made his

debut on 14 August, in a 1–0 away loss against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

Marítimo and Rio Ave

After his team's relegation, Salin signed for

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M (), commonly known as Marítimo or Marítimo da Madeira, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Established in 1910, Marítimo is best known for its football team ...

of the same league on 15 July 2011, moving on a free transfer on a three-year deal as a replacement for

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

-bound Marcelo Boeck. Having spent his first season as back-up to another Brazilian, Peterson Peçanha, he played 22 games in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, and ten in the that edition of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, which ended in group-stage elimination. Salin signed for Rio Ave F.C. in July 2013 on a one-year deal with another season as an option, having been tracked by Sporting and

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. Best known for the men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese foo ...

. He played the first ten matches of the league campaign before being dropped for youngster Ederson in November. In January 2014, Salin returned to Marítimo on a deal until the summer of 2016. He said that he had left the

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

n club because he thought he was going to sign for Braga on a salary four to five times higher than his previous one.

Guingamp

In July 2016, Salin returned to his homeland and joined

En Avant Guingamp En Avant Guingamp (, ), commonly referred to as EA Guingamp, EAG, or simply Guingamp (), is a French professional Football in France, football club based in the Communes of France, commune of Guingamp, in France's Brittany region. The club wa ...

on a one-year contract. His maiden appearance in the French top division occurred on 21 September at the age of 32, in a 1–0 home win over Lorient. This was his one league appearance for the

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

side, though he played all three games in a run to the

quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

, winning penalty shootouts away to

SC Bastia Sporting Club Bastia (, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a French professional association football, football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Football in France, ...

and

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

Sporting CP

On 29 July 2017, Salin agreed to a two-year deal at Sporting, replacing the departed Beto as backup to

Rui Patrício Rui Pedro dos Santos Patrício (; born 15 February 1988) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for UAE Pro League side Al Ain and the Portugal national team. He is often nicknamed "São Patrício" (''St.'' ''Patric ...

; it was the third time that the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

club had been interested in him, after 2013 and 2016. His debut on 19 September was a goalless draw at home to his former side Marítimo, in the group stage of his team's eventual conquest of the

. Salin began his second season as first choice after the departure of Patrício, but following injury against

Portimonense S.C. Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese footbal ...

in October 2018 he was surpassed by loanee

Renan Ribeiro Renan Ribeiro (born 23 March 1990) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He began his career in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A with Atlético Mineiro and São Paulo. In January 2018 he moved to Portugal, where he ...

. The club completed a domestic cup double, with him playing all three league cup group fixtures, and the 2–0 victory at

C.D. Feirense Clube Desportivo Feirense, commonly known as CD Feirense or just Feirense, is a Portuguese association football, football club based in Santa Maria da Feira. Founded on 18 March 1918, Feirense play in the LigaPro, the second tier of football in ...

in the

of the

on 16 January 2019.

Rennes

Salin went back to his country's top flight in June 2019, signing for

Stade Rennais F.C. Stade Rennais Football Club (SRFC, ), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais () or simply Rennes,''Rennais'' and ''Stade Rennes'', used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, are not grammatically correct names for the club. is ...

for two years. In December 2020, having made seven appearances that season, he added another year to his contract; he subsequently tied himself to the

Roazhon Park Roazhon Park is a football stadium in Rennes, Brittany, France. ''Roazhon'' or is the Breton name of Rennes. The stadium was inaugurated on 15 September 1912. It is located at 111 route de Lorient, in west-central Rennes. Rebuilt in 2001 and ...

club until 2024. Salin did not play at all in

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, but was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

on 21 August in a 2–1 home win against

AC Ajaccio Athletic Club Ajaccien (), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ACA or simply Ajaccio, is a French professional football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and plays in the Ligue 2, the sec ...

for two yellow cards for dissent while on the substitutes' bench. On 13 May 2023 he featured for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

in the 3–0 victory over visiting

US Granville Union Sportive Granville, commonly referred to as US Granville or simply Granville, is a French association football, football club based in Granville, Manche, Granville in the Lower Normandy Regions of France, region. History The club was fo ...

in the

Championnat National 2 The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a Association football, football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system be ...

, as two of their goalkeepers had been moved into the main squad.

Marítimo return

On 13 July 2023, days before his 39th birthday, Salin returned to Marítimo. He signed a one-year deal, with the team now in the

Liga Portugal 2 The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Pr ...

. On 27 August, after his residence in France was robbed with his family inside, he asked the club to terminate his contract so he could return to his home country; a few days later, he announced his retirement.

Honours

Sporting CP *

: 2018–19 *

: 2017–18, 2018–19

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Salin, Romain 1984 births Living people 21st-century French sportsmen French men's footballers Footballers from Mayenne Men's association football goalkeepers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Stade Lavallois players FC Lorient players FC Libourne players Tours FC players En Avant Guingamp players Stade Rennais FC players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Associação Naval 1º de Maio players C.S. Marítimo players Rio Ave F.C. players Sporting CP footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal French expatriate sportspeople in Portugal