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Raúl Amarilla (footballer, born 1960)

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Raúl 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 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Sportivo Luqueño
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1979 Sportivo Luqueño
1980–1985 Zaragoza 126 (47)
1980–1981 → Racing Santander (loan) 29 (9)
1985–1988 Barcelona 35 (8)
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
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Amarilla and the second or maternal family name is Vera.

Raúl Vicente Amarilla (born 19 July 1960, in Luque) is a Paraguayan retired footballer who played as a striker. Born in Paraguay, he represented Spain internationally with the under-21 team.

Playing career

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 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 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.

Coaching career

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 Paraguay national team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification and the 2006 World Cup. After Ruiz resigned from the Paraguay 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.

Career statistics

Club

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 J1 League 7 3 5 3 4 0 16 6
1994 19 12 0 0 0 0 19 12
Total 26 15 5 3 4 0 35 18

Honours

Club

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

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Todos los jugadores del Real Zaragoza" (PDF). (527 KB) Page 8
  2. ^ El top 100 Americanista Archived 18 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Perfil del jugador
  4. ^ South American Coach and Player of the Year
  5. ^ Diario ABC Color
Preceded by South American Footballer of the Year
1990 		Succeeded by
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