Abraham Paz Cruz (born 29 June 1979) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central defender, currently manager of St Joseph's in the

Gibraltar National League The Gibraltar Football League is the only senior tier of association football in Gibraltar, founded in 2019 as the Gibraltar National League after a merger of the Gibraltar Premier Division, which served as the top division of football on the ...

Playing career

Born in

El Puerto de Santa María EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

Province of Cádiz Cádiz is a Provinces of Spain, province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the southernmost part of mainland Spain, as well as the southernmost part of conti ...

, Paz began his career his professional with the reserves of local club

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

, his stint then also being punctuated by a loan to hometown's Racing Club Portuense. He was definitely reinstated in the first team in 2000, going on to represent them in all three major divisions (including 22 games and one goal in 2005–06's La Liga). Paz joined

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

of the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

in the summer of 2008. He contributed 31 matches and two goals in his second season, as the

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 ...

side returned to the top division after a 13-year absence. On 12 December 2010, during a 4–1 home win against

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

, Paz became the first Spanish scorer for Hércules in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, as the campaign ended in immediate relegation. From 2011 to 2013 he competed in the second tier, representing FC Cartagena and CE Sabadell FC and suffering relegation with the former. On 16 July 2013, aged 34, Paz moved abroad for the very first time, signing a two-year contract with Israeli club

Bnei Sakhnin FC Bnei Sakhnin F.C. ( ar, اتحاد أبناء سخنين, he, איחוד בני סכנין, ''Ihud Bnei Sakhnin''; ''Ittihad Abna Sakhnin'', ) is an Israeli football club based at the Doha Stadium in Sakhnin. They are the most successful club ...

– he had just been banned from playing in his country while investigations were carried out to determine whether or not he was involved in

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

when he represented Hércules. During his spell in the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

, he was also loaned to fellow Premier League team

Maccabi Haifa FC Maccabi Haifa Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל מכבי חיפה, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Maccabi Haifa'') is an Israeli professional football club, based in the city of Haifa, Israel, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The clu ...

; ultimately, he was acquitted of any wrongdoing. In January 2019, Paz joined

St Joseph's F.C. St Joseph's Football Club, created in 1912, is an association football club based in Gibraltar. It currently plays in the Gibraltar Football League. The club also has two Futsal teams and more than 10 youth teams. In 2013, they established links ...

of the

Gibraltar Premier Division The Gibraltar Premier Division was a football league established by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) in 1905, and the top tier of football in Gibraltar. It originally contained eight member clubs, but it has grown over the years. In 19 ...

on a short-team deal.

Coaching career

Shortly after retiring, Paz became assistant manager at Atlético Sanluqueño CF. He had his first head coach job on 8 June 2022, being appointed at former side St Joseph's.

Career statistics

Honours

Cádiz *

: 2004–05

References

External links

*
Stats and bio at Cadistas1910
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paz, Abraham 1979 births Living people People from El Puerto de Santa María Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Cádiz Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Cádiz CF Mirandilla players Cádiz CF players Racing Club Portuense players Hércules CF players FC Cartagena footballers CE Sabadell FC footballers Israeli Premier League players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Gibraltar Premier Division players St Joseph's F.C. players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Gibraltar Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Israel Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Gibraltar Spanish football managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Gibraltar