World Cup winner Romario has been elected to Brazil’s lower house of Congress.
Romario was elected with nearly 150,000 votes in his first attempt at running for public office since retiring from football in 2008. He was the sixth-most voted for candidate in Rio de Janeiro state.
A former Barcelona striker, Romario led Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title and was voted the world’s best player that year. He scored 55 goals in 70 appearances for his country and is one of the few players in the history of the game to have cored more than 1000 goals.
Bebeto, Romario’s teammate in Brazil’s 1994 squad, was also elected in Sunday’s elections, but to Rio’s state Congress.
