Richard Alfred Mayela Páez Monzón known as Richard Páez (born 31 December 1953) is a Venezuelan football manager former coach of

Deportivo Cuenca Club Deportivo Cuenca is an Ecuadorian football club based in Cuenca. They currently play in the Serie A, the top-flight football league in the country, and is one of two clubs from Cuenca to have played in the top-flight (the other being LDU ...

from

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

and of the

Venezuela national football team The Venezuela national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Venezuela) represents Venezuela in men's international football and is controlled by the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), the governing body for football in Venezuela. ...

Playing career

Club

Born in Mérida, Páez played club football for

Estudiantes de Mérida Estudiantes (in English: ''students'') is the name of different sports clubs in the Spanish-speaking world: Argentina * Estudiantes de La Plata, sports club based in La Plata, Buenos Aires Province * Estudiantes de Buenos Aires, football club bas ...

, Portuguesa,

Deportivo Táchira ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable) Mexicable is a aerial lift line in Ecatepec de M ...

and Universidad de Los Andes.

International

He also played for the

in the 1970s.

Managerial career

During his tenure, which lasted from January 2001 to November 2007, Venezuela achieved its best period in international football, improving from its status of being the worst team in South America. The squad reached the semi-final of the

2007 Copa America 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

, and also had several victories in

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...

qualifying. In early 2008, he was signed as Alianza Lima's coach but was fired from his post a few months later. In November 2011, Páez became the first Venezuelan football manager to win a competition outside of Venezuela when his team Millonarios won the Copa Postobón. In May 2012, he left Millonarios after one and one-half seasons in charge.

Personal life

His son, Ricardo Páez, was a member of the national team.

References

External links

ESPNSoccernet: Venezuela coach Paez quits over jeers
1952 births Living people Venezuelan footballers Venezuela international footballers Estudiantes de Mérida players Portuguesa F.C. players Deportivo Táchira F.C. players Venezuelan football managers Venezuela national football team managers 2001 Copa América managers 2004 Copa América managers 2007 Copa América managers Deportivo Táchira F.C. managers Club Alianza Lima managers Millonarios F.C. managers Mineros de Guayana managers Association football midfielders People from Mérida, Mérida C.D. Cuenca managers Estudiantes de Mérida managers {{venezuela-footy-bio-stub