Category profile
- Dominance
- 88
- Peak
- 96
- Longevity
- 84
- Honours
- 90
- Statistics
- 94
Career timeline · Goals per season
| Season | Goals per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 50 | |
| 1986 | 55 | |
| 1987 | 61 | |
| 1988 | 66 | |
| 1989 | 71 | |
| 1990 | 77 | |
| 1991 | 82 | |
| 1992 | 87 | |
| 1993 | 93 | |
| 1994 | 98 | |
| 1995 | 93 | |
| 1996 | 88 | |
| 1997 | 83 | |
| 1998 | 79 | |
| 1999 | 74 | |
| 2000 | 69 | |
| 2001 | 64 | |
| 2002 | 59 | |
| 2003 | 54 | |
| 2004 | 49 | |
| 2005 | 44 | |
| 2006 | 40 | |
| 2007 | 35 | |
| 2008 | 30 | |
| 2009 | 25 |
Data sources
- FIFA official records
- UEFA competition archives
- National federation and club records
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Romário ranks #21 in Football
Romário ranks 21st among Football athletes on GOAT Rank and 39th of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 90.1 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 88, Peak 96, Longevity 84, Honours 90, Statistics 94. Those categories are normalised against the full Football reference universe of 895 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1985–2009 with 25 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1994, which sets the Peak component at 96. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 96 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes world cup titles 1, world cup golden ball awards 1, fifa world player awards 1, career goals in official matches 772.
Immediately ahead sits Carli Lloyd on 90.5, a gap of 0.4 points. Directly behind is Antoine Griezmann on 90.1. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Romário GOAT Score explained
- Dominance88/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Romário stood above the field while competing. Scored 88/100 against the full Football cohort.
- Peak96/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1994. Scored 96/100.
- Longevity84/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 24 years of competition and 25 recorded seasons. Scored 84/100.
- Honours90/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 90/100.
- Statistics94/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 94/100.
Top Romário comparisons
Romário — frequently asked
- Is Romário the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Romário ranks 21st in Football with a GOAT Score of 90.1, behind Lionel Messi on 97.0.
- What is Romário's GOAT Score?
- 90.1 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 88 (25%), Peak 96 (20%), Longevity 84 (20%), Honours 90 (20%), Statistics 94 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Romário rank all time?
- 39th of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 21st within Football.
- Romário vs Carli Lloyd: who ranks higher?
- Carli Lloyd, on 90.5 against Romário's 90.1 — a margin of 0.4 points.