Raúl Vicente Amarilla

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

<templatestyles src="Module:Infobox/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Raúl Vicente Amarilla
Personal information
Full name Raúl Vicente Amarilla Vera
Date of birth (1960-07-19) 19 July 1960 (age 64)
Place of birth Luque, Paraguay
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Sportivo Luqueño
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1979 Sportivo Luqueño
1980–1981 Racing Santander
1981–1985 Real Zaragoza 126 (47)
1985–1988 Barcelona 35 (9)
1988–1989 Olimpia
1989 América
1990–1993 Olimpia
1993–1994 Yokohama Flügels 26 (15)
International career
1982–1983 Spain U21 2 (0)
Managerial career
2006–2007 Paraguay
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Raúl Vicente Amarilla (born 19 July 1960 in Luque) is a retired Paraguayan football striker.

Career as a player

Amarilla made his debut in his hometown team, Sportivo Luqueño at the age of 17. Because of his scoring ability and great heading skills (he was fairly tall, 6 feet 3 inches) he soon moved to Spain and signed for Real Zaragoza. Before making his debut with Real Zaragoza, he was loaned to Racing de Santander for the 1980/81 season.[1] Amarilla returned to Real Zaragoza where he gained success by leading the team in scoring in the 1982–83 season, finishing as the second best scorer in La Liga. Because of his success in the Spanish League, Amarilla was asked to play for the Spain national under-21 football team. He accepted the offer and this is why later in his career he was not able to play for the Paraguay national team. After several seasons with Real Zaragoza, Amarilla joined FC Barcelona between 1985 and 1988.

Amarilla returned to Paraguay in 1988 to play for Club Olimpia de Asunción. In 1989, while playing for Olimpia he was the top scorer in the Copa Libertadores of the same year with 10 goals. For the second half of 1989 he went on loan to the popular América de Mexico football team. Despite playing for a brief period, he established himself as a fan favorite by scoring 21 goals and eventually was chosen as one of the top 100 players in Club America's[clarification needed] history.[2][3]

He returned in 1990 to Paraguay to play again for Olimpia. In that year, he helped the team win the Copa Libertadores, the Supercopa and Recopa Sudamericana by forming the unforgettable feared attacking Olimpia trio along with Gabriel González and Adriano Samaniego. To top his great performance in the year 1990, he was voted South American Footballer of the Year.[4]

In 1993, he migrated to Japan and the next year, at the age of 34, he returned to Paraguay and retired from professional football by playing again in Olimpia, where he is one of the most loved former players by the fans.

Club career statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Japan League Emperor's Cup J. League Cup Total
1993 Yokohama Flügels J. League 1 7 3 5 3 4 0 16 6
1994 19 12 0 0 0 0 19 12
Country Japan 26 15 5 3 4 0 35 18
Total 26 15 5 3 4 0 35 18

Titles

Season Club Title
1984–85 Spain FC Barcelona La Liga
1987–88 Spain FC Barcelona Copa del Rey
1988 Paraguay Olimpia Paraguay 1st Division
1990 Paraguay Olimpia Copa Libertadores
1990 Paraguay Olimpia Supercopa Sudamericana
1990 Paraguay Olimpia Recopa Sudamericana
1993 Paraguay Olimpia Paraguay 1st Division

Awards

Preceded by South American Footballer of the Year
1990
Succeeded by
Oscar Ruggeri

Career as a coach

A few years after retiring from professional football, Amarilla began coaching small teams in the Paraguayan league such as Club Sportivo San Lorenzo and Sportivo Luqueño where he achieved minor success. Afterwards, Amarilla was named the assistant coach of Anibal Ruiz for the Paraguayan national team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification and the 2006 World Cup. After Ruiz resigned from the Paraguayan national team, Amarilla was named as the interim head coach by the Paraguayan Football Association until the start of 2007, where Gerardo Martino was appointed as the new manager.[5] Amarilla currently works as the director of the youth divisions of Olimpia.

References

External links