- Óscar de Paula
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Óscar de Paula Personal information Full name Óscar de Paula Gamero Date of birth 31 May 1975 Place of birth Durango, Spain Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Playing position Striker 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) National team 1996–1998 Spain U21 7 (1) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).This name 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 Gamero (born 31 May 1975) is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a striker.
Most of his professional career was associated with Real Sociedad, for which he appeared in 11 La Liga seasons, playing in nearly 350 official games and scoring more than 60 goals.
Football career
Born in Durango, Biscay, Basque Country, de Paula began his football career playing for lowly clubs in Badajoz, as his family hailed from Olivenza (Extremadura). Being still a junior he moved to local CD Badajoz, and made his professional debuts midway through 1992–93, in the second division, and remained with the side two extra seasons.
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 September 10, 1995, playing three minutes of a 3–0 home win against Sporting de Gijón. De Paula remained 11 seasons at Sociedad, all of them in the first division.
His time as a player for Real Sociedad was very successful although he was never a regular starter. He is best known for his abilities of scoring goals coming as a substitute, and usually made a good goals scored/minutes played ratio. Through 1999–2001, de Paula scored nine goals in each season, but only appeared in 11 contests in 2002–03 as Sociedad finished runner-up and, in his last season, managed just six matches (280 minutes), with three goals.
After that season, de Paula's contract expired,[1] and he left and moved south to Cádiz CF, in the second-tier, "descending" yet another level in 2007–08, joining third level's SD Ponferradina, and scoring 32 league goals in his first two seasons combined (16 apiece).
De Paula netted 11 goals in 25 games in 2009–10 as the Castile and León team returned to the second division after a three-year absence. However, Ponfe would be immediately relegated back and, aged 36, he announced his professional retirement, having appeared in 444 league matches both major levels combined (114 goals).
References
- ^ De Paula signs out at Real Sociedad; UEFA.com, 9 June 2006
External links
Categories:- 1975 births
- Living people
- Spanish footballers
- Basque footballers
- Association football forwards
- La Liga footballers
- CD Badajoz players
- Real Sociedad footballers
- Cádiz CF footballers
- SD Ponferradina footballers
- Spain under-21 international footballers
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