He was more easily stopped by asking her father than by any defender
Em algum momento entre a glória da Copa do Mundo de 1994 e os bastidores da televisão infantil brasileira, duas vidas se cruzaram e criaram um vínculo improvável — sustentado por cartas, promessas e a distância do Atlântico. A história de Ana Paula Almeida e Romário é, em sua essência, um retrato da juventude confrontando seus próprios ideais: o desejo de ser fiel a si mesma, mesmo quando isso significa abandonar o que parecia certo. Décadas depois, ela fala sobre essas escolhas não com arrependimento, mas com a clareza de quem aprendeu a reconhecer o peso e a liberdade que cada decisão carrega.
- Uma paquita de dezessete anos e o maior craque do mundo se apaixonam à distância, trocando telefonemas diários e cartas manuscritas entre o Brasil e Barcelona.
- Por dois anos, o noivado permanece casto — ela carregava o sonho de se casar virgem, e ele respeitava esse desejo sem questionar.
- Vinte dias antes do casamento, ela rompe o noivado, incapaz de reconciliar quem era com quem estava se tornando — uma decisão que abalou as colunas de fofoca do país.
- Aos vinte e cinco anos, longe do altar e das expectativas alheias, ela escolhe deliberadamente seu primeiro parceiro — o piloto Tony Kanaan — nos próprios termos.
- Anos mais tarde, um reencontro fugaz com Romário acende por um instante o que havia sido, antes que o tempo confirmasse: aquela história já tinha chegado ao fim.
No início dos anos 1990, Ana Paula Almeida era uma das paquitas mais conhecidas do Brasil — dançarina e figura do programa infantil de maior audiência do país. Foi através do cunhado que ela conheceu Romário, recém-chegado ao Brasil com a taça do mundo nas mãos. Ele a visitou em casa e encontrou não mais a menina que conhecera anos antes, mas uma jovem de dezessete anos. O que se seguiu foi um romance conduzido quase inteiramente à distância: ligações diárias e cartas escritas à mão entre o Brasil e Barcelona, onde Romário jogava.
Depois de meses assim, ele decidiu voltar ao Brasil para ficar perto dela. O pedido de noivado ao pai dela, ele brincaria mais tarde, foi mais difícil do que driblar zagueiros. Por dois anos, permaneceram noivos e castos — ela tinha o sonho antigo de se casar virgem, e ele respeitou isso durante todo o tempo juntos. Mas aos vinte anos, ela começou a sentir o peso das dúvidas. Descreveu-se como imatura, dividida entre quem era e quem estava se tornando. Vinte dias antes do casamento, ela desfez o noivado.
Almeida guardou a virgindade por mais alguns anos após a separação. Aos vinte e cinco, trabalhando em uma campanha publicitária que também patrocinava a Fórmula Indy, conheceu o piloto Tony Kanaan. Foi uma escolha feita conscientemente, nos próprios termos — sem vestido de noiva nem promessas a cumprir. Anos depois, ela e Romário se reencontraram brevemente, e houve entre eles um lampejo do que já foram. Mas a história, a essa altura, já estava escrita.
In the early 1990s, when Ana Paula Almeida was at the height of her fame as a paquita—a dancer and performer on Brazilian children's television—she caught the attention of Romário, one of the world's best footballers and fresh off winning the 1994 World Cup. The connection came through her brother-in-law, who had known Romário for years. When Romário returned to Brazil after the tournament, he visited her home and found her transformed from the child he'd seen years earlier into a young woman of seventeen.
What followed was an unlikely romance conducted largely across an ocean. Romário returned to Barcelona, where he was playing, and the two maintained their relationship through daily phone calls and handwritten letters. After months of conversation, Romário made the decision to return to Brazil to be with her. Years later, he would joke that asking her father for permission to get engaged had been harder than evading defenders on the pitch.
For two years, they remained engaged and celibate. Almeida had harbored a specific dream since childhood: to marry as a virgin. Romário, she recalls, was respectful of that wish and of her throughout their time together. But at twenty years old, she found herself wrestling with doubts. She describes herself as immature at the time, caught between the person she was and the person she was becoming. Just twenty days before their wedding was set to take place, she ended the engagement. The relationship that had captivated Brazilian tabloids and gossip columns simply dissolved.
Almeida carried that decision with her for years. She held onto her virginity for several more years after the breakup, waiting for circumstances that felt right. It wasn't until she was twenty-five that she made a different choice. She had been working on a promotional campaign for a product that also sponsored Formula Indy racing, and through that work she met Tony Kanaan, a race car driver. She decided deliberately that he would be her first partner. It was a choice made on her own terms, without the weight of a wedding dress or a promise made to someone else.
Years later, long after both relationships had ended, Almeida and Romário reconnected. There was a moment between them again, a brief flashback to what they had once been. But by then, the story had already been written—two people who had loved each other in their own way, separated by time and the choices that define us.
Citas Notables
I was very childish and over something silly I decided to end it just 20 days before the wedding. I have great affection for Romário and he was always very respectful. I was a virgin, I had the dream of marrying as a virgin.— Ana Paula Almeida, on the podcast Papagaio Falante
It was easier for him to get past the defenders than to ask my father for permission to get engaged.— Romário, as recounted by Ana Paula Almeida
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why do you think she decided to end it just twenty days before the wedding?
She was twenty, maybe still figuring out who she was. She calls it immaturity, but it might have been something clearer—a recognition that she wasn't ready, even if she couldn't name it that way at the time.
And Romário accepted that? Just like that?
He did. She says he was always respectful. That matters in a story like this—he didn't fight her or try to convince her. He let her go.
Why did she wait until twenty-five to lose her virginity?
It wasn't about waiting for the right person in some romantic sense. It was about reclaiming the choice. With Romário, it was tied to a promise, to a future that didn't happen. With Tony Kanaan, it was hers alone to make.
Did she regret ending the engagement?
She doesn't say that. She says she has affection for Romário, that she carries warmth for him. But regret and warmth aren't the same thing. Sometimes you can be glad you made a choice and still feel the weight of what you gave up.