Romeu Fernando Fernandes da Silva (born 4 March 1954), known simply as Romeu, is a retired Portuguese

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 ...

who played as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Football career

Born in Vila Praia de Âncora,

Caminha Caminha () is a municipality in the north-west of Portugal, 21 km north from Viana do Castelo, located in the Viana do Castelo District. The population in 2011 was 16,684, in an area of 136.52 km². Caminha is subdivided into 14 civil pa ...

Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 88,725, in an area of 319.02 km². The urbanized area of the municipality, comprising the city, ...

, Romeu made his professional debuts with

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

, first appearing with the first team not yet aged 19. After a career-best ten goals in 28 matches in 1974–75, he caught the attention of

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', B ...

, where he would however appear rarely over the course of two

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

seasons. After reviving his career with his first club, Romeu moved in 1979 to

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, 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 football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Por ...

, where he would be much more used than at Benfica, in a four-season spell. The northern side however, only won one Portuguese Supercup, in 1981. Aged 29, Romeu joined the last of the Big Three,

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foo ...

. Except for his debut campaign, he would not be more than a fringe player as the team came totally empty on silverware, and finally retired in 1988 after one-year spells with modest S.C. Salgueiros and Amora FC (the latter in division two). In the 90s/2000s, Romeu had several spells as a manager, also working with Benfica as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement * Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

and match observer (1999–2001). During eight years, still as a player, he appeared eight times for the Portugal national team.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Romeu Silva 1954 births Living people Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Vitória S.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers FC Porto players Sporting CP footballers S.C. Salgueiros players Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Vitória S.C. managers U.S.C. Paredes managers G.D. Interclube managers Expatriate football managers in Angola Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Angola Girabola managers Sportspeople from Viana do Castelo District