Óscar de Paula

Óscar Javier de Paula Gamero (born 31 May 1975) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker, and a current manager.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is De Paula and the second or maternal family name is Gamero.
Óscar de Paula
Personal information
Full name Óscar Javier de Paula Gamero
Date of birth (1975-05-31) 31 May 1975
Place of birth Durango, Spain
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Badajoz (director of football)
Youth career
Olivenza
Salesianos
Badajoz
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1995 Badajoz 27 (5)
1995–2006 Real Sociedad 273 (57)
2006–2007 Cádiz 30 (4)
2007–2011 Ponferradina 114 (48)
Total 444 (114)
National team
1996–1998 Spain U21 8 (1)
1998–2001 Basque Country 4 (5)
Teams managed
2015–2016 Badajoz
2016–2017 Palencia
2017–2018 Extremadura B
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Most of his professional career was associated with Real Sociedad, for which he appeared in 11 La Liga seasons, playing 300 competitive matches and scoring 60 goals.

Playing career

Club

Born in Durango, Biscay, Basque Country, de Paula began his football career with lowly clubs in Badajoz as his family hailed from Olivenza (Extremadura). Being still a junior he signed with CD Badajoz, and made his professional debut midway through the 1992–93 campaign in Segunda División.[1]

At the beginning of 1995–96, de Paula moved back to his native region to play for La Liga side Real Sociedad. His first game came on 10 September 1995, featuring three minutes in the 2–0 home win against Sporting de Gijón;[2] he went on to spent 11 seasons at the former, all of them in the top flight.[1]

De Paula's time as a player for Real Sociedad was very successful although he was never a regular starter, more often than not scoring goals after coming in as a substitute, and usually made a good goals scored/minutes played ratio.[3] Through 1999 to 2001 he netted nine goals in each season, but made only 11 appearances in 2002–03 as they finished runners-up and, in his last year, managed just six matches (280 minutes) with three goals.

In June 2006, de Paula's contract expired[4] and he left and moved south to Cádiz CF in the second level. He descended yet another tier to Segunda División B at the end of the 2007–08 campaign after joining SD Ponferradina, scoring a combined 32 league goals in his first two seasons (16 apiece).[5]

De Paula netted 11 times in 25 games in 2009–10 as the Castile and León team returned to division two after a three-year absence.[5] However, Ponfe would be immediately relegated and, aged 36, he announced his professional retirement due to a recurrent knee injury, having appeared in 444 league matches both major levels combined and scored 114 goals.[6]

International

De Paula won eight caps for Spain at under-21 level, during slightly more than one year. His first arrived on 8 October 1996, when he started the 2–1 away victory over the Czech Republic for the 1998 UEFA European Championship qualifiers.[7]

Coaching career

In January 2012, de Paula returned to Badajoz, where he was hired as youth system coordinator.[8] In April 2013, he started working with the Extremaduran Football Federation as a regional coach in the sub'12 and sub'16 categories, also being head director of its football academy.[9][10]

On 11 June 2015, de Paula was appointed head coach of Badajoz ahead of the season in Tercera División, declaring the side's intentions to promote.[11] They eventually reached the play-offs, but he had already been dismissed on 26 January 2016 after six matches without a win.[12]

In mid-August 2016, de Paula became the new manager of CD Palencia Balompié after signing a one-year contract.[13] He left the position in March 2017, following a poor string of results.[14]

On 8 June 2019, after one season as coach of Extremadura UD's reserves,[15] de Paula returned to Badajoz as director of football.[16]

Honours

Ponferradina

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References
  1. Adiós de un grande a los 36 años (Farewell to a great at the age of 36); Hoy, 1 June 2011 (in Spanish)
  2. Karpin marca diferencias y da el triunfo a la Real (Karpin makes the difference and gives win to Real); Mundo Deportivo, 11 September 1995 (in Spanish)
  3. La cifra goleadora más sorprendente de Leo Messi (Leo Messi's most surprising scoring statistic); Sport, 16 October 2016 (in Spanish)
  4. De Paula signs out at Real Sociedad; UEFA, 9 June 2006
  5. Los goles de De Paula son sinónimo de victoria (De Paula's goals equal wins); Marca, 17 November 2010 (in Spanish)
  6. Óscar de Paula se retira del fútbol tras 21 temporadas como professional (Óscar de Paula retires from football after 21 seasons as a professional); El Diario Vasco, 31 May 2011 (in Spanish)
  7. Arnau, héroe en Praga (Arnau, hero in Prague)]; Mundo Deportivo, 9 October 1996 (in Spanish)
  8. De Paula regresa al Badajoz como director del fútbol base (De Paula returns to Badajoz as youth system coordinator); El Periódico de Extremadura, 20 January 2012 (in Spanish)
  9. Óscar de Paula, nuevo director de la escuela de entrenadores (Óscar de Paula, new manager school director); Extremaduran Football Federation, 19 December 2014 (in Spanish)
  10. Óscar De Paula, una vida dedicada al fútbol (II) (Óscar De Paula, a life dedicated to football (II)); Badajoz Deportes, 29 December 2015 (in Spanish)
  11. Óscar De Paula ilusiona al Badajoz (Óscar de Paula has Badajoz dreaming); Hoy, 11 June 2015 (in Spanish)
  12. El nuevo tropiezo del Badajoz le cuesta el puesto a Óscar de Paula (Badajoz's new setback costs Óscar de Paula his job); Cadena SER, 26 January 2016 (in Spanish)
  13. De Paula como entrenador, y cinco jugadores, primeros fichajes de la "era Serrano" (De Paula as a manager, and five players, first signings of the "age of Serrano"); Cadena SER, 16 August 2016 (in Spanish)
  14. Óscar de Paula ya es historia en el Palencia (Óscar de Paula is already history at Palencia); El Bierzo Digital, 16 March 2017 (in Spanish)
  15. De Paula, ex de la Real, nuevo director deportivo del Badajoz (De Paula, formerly of Real, new Badajoz sporting director); Diario AS, 8 June 2019 (in Spanish)
  16. Óscar De Paula, nuevo director de fútbol del CD Badajoz (Óscar De Paula, new CD Badajoz director of football); Badajoz Deportes, 8 June 2019 (in Spanish)
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