Ruben Wálter Paz Márquez (born 8 August 1959) is a Uruguayan former 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Paz played at two

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 ...

s for

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and was also

South American Footballer of the Year The Rey del Fútbol de América ("King of Football of America"), often referred to as the South American Footballer of the Year, is an annual association football award presented to the best footballer in South America over the previous calendar ...

in 1988. He retired in 2006 at the age of 47. He's currently

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neig ...

's assistant coach.

Club career

Ruben Paz began his career at the age of 17 when he joined the Club Atlético Peñarol Montevideo in 1977. He played in Peñarol until February 1982, where he obtained important achievements, winning 3 Uruguayan league championships (1978, 1979 and 1981) and became top scorer of the Uruguayan league by 1981. In 1982, he emigrated to the Brazilian League, specifically the Rio Grande do Sul team

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonat ...

, where he won three consecutive Gaúcho championships (1982, 1983, 1984) and was considered the best player of the Brazilian league by 1985/86. In 1986 he makes the leap to Europe, specifically to Matra Racing Paris (now the Racing Club de France) of the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

of French Football, where he played alongside his compatriot

Enzo Francescoli Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (; born 12 November 1961), nicknamed "El Príncipe" ("The Prince"), is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a attacking midfielder. He is regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and as one of Uru ...

. The following year he was transferred to

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club de Avellaneda, officially known as Racing Club or shortened to just Racing, is an Argentina, Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically c ...

in the Argentine league, where he becomes the team leader and an idol for the fans of the squad that conquered the South American Super Cup and in 1988. That same year he was crowned as both the

Argentinian Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

and

. He was one of the few players in Argentinian football to be respected by all supporters. During the 1989–90 season he transferred to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

of the Italian Football League, coinciding with two compatriots, José Perdomo and Carlos Aguilera. The following year he returned to Racing Club. In 1993 he returned to Uruguay to play in Rampla Juniors, and the following year moved to the Frontera Rivera club, where he stayed until 2000, except for the 1996 season, when he played for Godoy Cruz of Mendoza, Argentina. Later he continued to play in smaller clubs, ending his playing career in 2006.

International career

Participated in the Uruguayan team that won the Mundialito in 1980. Later he played in two editions of the World Cup, those held in Mexico in 1986 and Italy in 1990, in which his national team was eliminated in second round by Italy.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Uruguay's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Paz goal''.

Honours

Peñarol * Primera División:

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 – ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major off ...

Internacional *

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho Série A1 (Gaúcho Championship A1 Series or Série A1), officially named as Campeonato da Primeira Divisão de Futebol Profissional da FGF - Divisão Especial - Série A1 and commonly known as Campeonato Gaúcho or Gauchã ...

: 1982, 1983, 1984 Racing Club *

Supercopa Sudamericana The Supercopa Libertadores (English: ''Libertadores Supercup''), also known as the Supercopa Libertadores João Havelange, Supercopa João Havelange or simply Supercopa, was a football club competition contested annually between 1988 and 1997 by ...

: 1988 *Supercopa Interamericana: 1988 Uruguay * Mundialito: 1980 *

South American U-20 Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as U-20 South American Championship and es, Torneo Juventudes de América, "Campeonato Sudamericano Sub 20" or pt, Juventude da América (English: "America's Youth") is a South American f ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrati ...

References

External links

Rúben Paz at Racing Club's official site

Rubén Paz at Internacional's official site

Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paz, Ruben 1959 births Living people Uruguayan footballers Association football midfielders Peñarol players Rampla Juniors players Racing Club de France Football players Sport Club Internacional players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba footballers Genoa C.F.C. players Uruguayan Primera División players Uruguayan beach soccer players Ligue 1 players Serie A players Uruguay international footballers Uruguay under-20 international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1979 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players South American Footballer of the Year winners Uruguayan expatriate footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Brazil Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Argentina Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy