Luis Javier Paradela Díaz (born 21 January 1997) is a Cuban professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays for

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club Universitatea Craiova, on loan from

Liga FPD The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Liga de Fútbol de Primera División (Liga FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Uni ...

club

Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. Their colours are burgundy and white. It ...

and the Cuba national team. He primarily plays as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, but can also be deployed as a winger.

Club career

Youth career

Paradela began his youth career in his native Cuba with club

FC Matanzas FC Matanzas is a Cuban professional football club based in Matanzas. Its home stadium is the 1,000-capacity Estadio Calimete. It currently plays in the Campeonato Nacional. History Their greatest achievement was beating Real Madrid CF in 1934 ...

USAC

He joined USAC in 2019, making his competitive debut for USAC in a 2–1 home defeat against Sansare FC on January 20, 2019, during the Clausura tournament of the 2018–2019 season. He scored his first goal and brace in a 4–1 home victory over

Achuapa San José de Achuapa (or Achuapa) is a municipality in the León department of Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a pop ...

on January 26, 2019, followed by another brace four days later in a 2–2 away tie against

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

Reno 1868

In August 2019, Paradela joined

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

side

Reno 1868 Reno 1868 FC was an American professional soccer team based in Reno, Nevada. Founded in 2015, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in March 2017 and ceased operations after the 2020 season. History Previously, northern Nevada has ...

on loan. Paradela became the first Cuban soccer player to play in the United States without defecting. Due to the unique unprecedented process, the P1 VISA took months to be processed and was obtained with only single entry and for 90 days validity. The player was cleared to arrive in Reno only with 6 games remaining in the season.

Jocoro

In late January 2020, after being denied return to the USL Championship due to pressure from the

Football Association of Cuba The Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba is the official governing body of the sport of football in Cuba including the Cuba national football team, Cuba women's national football team and Cuba national futsal team. Association staff Notable former ...

, and missing out on several offers in different countries due immigration bottlenecks, Paradela joined Jocoro F.C. in the La Liga Mayor, playing six matches before the cancellation of the Clausura 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chalatenango

In August 2020, after not being able to join Santos de Guápiles F.C. in Costa Rica due to the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, Luis Paradela confirmed his commitment to play the Apertura 2020 with C.D. Chalatenango. The offer by Santos de Guápiles F.C. remained valid for the Clausura 2021.

Santos de Guápiles

In early January 2021, Paradela transferred to Santos de Guápiles in the

debuting shortly after in a match against C.S. Cartaginés. In 2022, Paradela was awarded the best foreign player of the 2021–22 season award for his excellent performance in the Apertura 2021. His participation in the Clausura 2022 was limited to 7 games only due to an immigration issue affecting several foreign players in Costa Rica, which also prevented him from participating in the Concacaf Champions League 2022 series against

New York City FC New York City Football Club (often referred to as NYCFC) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in New York City. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern C ...

Saprissa

Paradela was signed by

on a transfer from Santos in the summer of 2022 along with his offensive partner

Javon East Javon Romario East (born 22 March 1995) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a striker for Israeli club Hapoel Haifa and the Jamaica national team. Club career He has played club football for Portmore United. With East in the sq ...

. He quickly established himself as a fans’ favorite, scoring 4 goals in his first 6 matches at the club.

International career

On 27 August 2018, Parabela made his official senior international debut for

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

in a friendly against

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

. He scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and no ...

on 8 September 2018 in an 11–0 victory, helping Cuba to their biggest ever win. Paradela was included in the best eleven of

2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League qualifying The qualifying phase of the 2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League was a one-off tournament that took place from 6 September 2018 to 24 March 2019. The qualifying determined the seeding for the group phase of the inaugural tournament, as well as deter ...

and was among the top scorers with five goals.

International stats

:''Scores and results list Cuba's goal tally first.''

Style of play

Paradela is a talented, fast, skillful, and hardworking player, with good technique, a short stature, and a strong build. He usually plays as a left winger, a position which enables him to beat opponents with the ball, cut into the centre, and shoot on goal from outside the area with his stronger right foot, although he is also an accurate striker of the ball with his left foot; he is also capable of creating chances for teammates as well as scoring goals himself. He is also known for his defensive contribution off the ball, and has been deployed anywhere along the front line, as well as in several

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

positions, most frequently as either an

, although he has also been used as a

main Main may refer to: Geography *Main River (disambiguation), multiple rivers with the same name *Ma'in, an ancient kingdom in modern-day Yemen * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *Spanish Main, the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territ ...

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

on occasion.

Honours

Saprissa *

: 2022 Apertura, 2022 Clausura, 2023 Apertura, 2024 Clausura *

Costa Rican Cup The Costa Rican Cup (''Torneo de Copa de Costa Rica'') is the top knock-out football tournament in Costa Rica which also serves as a qualification to the Supercopa Centroamericana. It was played for three seasons from 2013 to 2015. A 2019 edition ...

runner-up:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Supercopa de Costa Rica The Supercopa de Costa Rica () is an association football competition held for club football teams in Costa Rica. The Supercopa de Costa Rica is a renewed Champion of Champions tournament in Costa Rica and affirm with the secretary of the Unafu ...

: 2023 * Recopa de Costa Rica: 2023

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paradela, Luis 1997 births Living people Cuban men's footballers Cuban expatriate men's footballers Cuba men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Sportspeople from Matanzas Province Cuban people of Spanish descent 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup players FC Matanzas players Universidad SC players Reno 1868 FC players Jocoro F.C. players A.D. Chalatenango footballers Santos de Guápiles F.C. footballers Deportivo Saprissa players CS Universitatea Craiova players USL Championship players Salvadoran Primera División players Liga FPD players Liga I players Cuban expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala Cuban expatriate sportspeople in the United States Cuban expatriate sportspeople in El Salvador Cuban expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica Cuban expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Guatemala Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in El Salvador Expatriate men's footballers in Costa Rica Expatriate men's footballers in Romania