Óscar de Paula

Óscar de Paula

Personal information
Full name	Óscar de Paula Gamero
Date of birth	31 May 1975 (1975-05-31) (age 36)
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

1. ^ De Paula signs out at Real Sociedad; UEFA.com, 9 June 2006

External links

• Stats at Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Spanish)
• BDFutbol profile

Persondata
Name	De Paula, Oscar
Alternative names
Short description	Footballer
Date of birth	31 May 1975
Place of birth	Durango, Biscay, Spain
Date of death
Place of death