Fluminense president David Fischel said that the 36-year-old, who has averaged around a goal a game in club football in the last year and is still considered one of Brazil's top strikers, had joined until the end of the year.

Fischel said in a television interview that club sponsors would pay Romario's wages so that payment of the rest of the squad would not be affected.

Like nearly all Brazilian clubs, Fluminense, who are celebrating their centenary year, are in financial difficulties and are around three months late in paying their players.

Romario, who had also been chased by his old club Flamengo, is expected to make his debut on August 11 against Cruzeiro as the Brazilian championship gets under way and will be eager to have the spotlight on him once again.

Brazil's hero when they won their fourth world title in 1994, Romario was forced to watch Brazil's victorious 2002 campaign on the television after coach Luiz Felipe Scolari overlooked him for 'technical and tactical' reasons.

Scolari ignored a wave of popular pressure -- including some lobbying from president Fernando Henrique Cardoso -- in refusing to pick the charismatic but outspoken striker.

The saga dragged on for over six months and reached its melodramatic height when Romario gave a tearful media conference in which apologised for 'anything I might have done wrong, even unconsciously.'

Romario's latest stint at Vasco, the club where he began his career, lasted three-and-a-half years in which he enjoyed a prolific scoring record.

However, in the last few months he has been persecuted by a group of the club's supporters, who accuse him of not pulling his weight.

Fluminense are a traditional power in the Brazilian game but have fallen on hard times recently, dropping as low as the third division of the national championship in 1998.