Rafael "Rafa" Páez Cardona (born 10 August 1994) is a Spanish

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 ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Mar Menor FC Mar Menor Football Club is a Spanish football team based in San Javier, in the autonomous community of Murcia. Founded in 2007, it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 5, holding home games at '' Estadio Pitín'', with a capacity of 3,000 ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Orihuela Orihuela (; ca-valencia, Oriola ) is a city and municipality located at the feet of the Sierra de Orihuela mountains in the province of Alicante, Spain. The city of Orihuela had a population of 33,943 inhabitants at the beginning of 2013. The mu ...

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in th ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous comm ...

, Páez joined Hércules CF's youth setup in 2006, aged 12, after starting it out at Escuela Municipal de Fútbol de Orihuela. In October 2009 he moved to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, along with three other Hércules teammates.

Liverpool

In August 2013, Páez was invited into a trial by

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, and impressed during his time at the club. In September he rescinded his link with the

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

outfit and signed a two-year contract with the Reds, being assigned to the reserves. Páez appeared in 15 matches for the under-21s during the campaign, scoring two goals (in a 2–4 loss against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional Association football, football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English foo ...

and in a 5–2 win against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

), forming a partnership with Lloyd Jones.

Bologna (loan)

On 7 August 2014, Páez was loaned to Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

side

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

-long deal, with an option to buy. He was handed the number 6 jersey for the season. Páez made his professional debut on 29 August 2014, starting in a 1–2 away loss against

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and par ...

. He appeared in eight league matches for the club (562 minutes of action), but left in January 2015.

Eibar (loan)

On 30 January 2015, Páez joined

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

on loan until June, mainly as a replacement to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

-bound Raúl Albentosa. However, he was unable to play for the club, as FIFA blocked the transfer alleging an administrative error by Eibar.

Alcorcón

On 6 August 2015, Páez signed a permanent deal with Segunda División side AD Alcorcón. He made his debut for the club on 13 September, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Víctor Pastrana Víctor Pastrana Carrasco (born 27 September 1996) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Atlético Baleares as a winger. Football career Born in Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Pastrana joined AD Alcorcón's youth setup in 2012, a ...

in a 1–0 home win against SD Ponferradina. Páez scored his first professional goal on 24 April 2016, netting the first in a 1–3 away loss against

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

. On 4 August of the following year, he terminated his contract with the ''Alfareros''.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paez, Rafael 1994 births Living people People from Orihuela Sportspeople from the Province of Alicante Spanish footballers Footballers from the Valencian Community Association football defenders Liverpool F.C. players Serie B players Ligue 2 players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Segunda División players Segunda División B players SD Eibar footballers AD Alcorcón footballers UCAM Murcia CF players NK Rudeš players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players NK Istra 1961 players Croatian Football League players Spanish expatriate footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate footballers in Croatia