Romário de Souza Faria, or just plain old Romario to you and me, has confirmed his decision to retire from football at the age of 42. Voted World Player of the Year in 1994, Romario scored 71 goals in 85 appearances for Brazil, winning the 1994 World Cup.

The player that Cruyff described as a "genius of the goal area" began playing for Vasco da Gama in Brazil before moving to Europe where he played for PSV, Barcelona and Valencia. As well as his four stints with Vasco, Romario also lined out for Brazilian clubs Flamengo and Fluminese, Al Sadd in Qatar, Miami FC and Adelaide United in Australia.

Last May Romario claimed to have scored his 1,000th career goal becoming only the second player in professional football history to reach this milestone after Pele. However, the spoilsports at Fifa dispute Romario's claims, stating that many of his goals were scored in friendlies, youth and testimonial games.

Controversy was never far behind the Brazilian legend throughout his career, even as late as last October he was banned for 120 days after testing positive for the banned substance finasteride, claiming that he inadvertently used it as part of a baldness treatment.

Even if Romario didn't actually score 1000 goals (FIFA's official figure is a paltry 929) he was still one of the best finishers to have graced the modern game and if you don't agree just check out the videos below!