Jean Francisco Rodrigues (born 28 November 1977), commonly known as Jean Paulista, is a Brazilian 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 le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

or an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

Club career

Born in

Sertãozinho Sertãozinho is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo. The population in 2020 was about 127,142. Its area is 403 km2. The municipality consists of Sertãozinho city and two districts: Cruz das Posses and Vila Garcia. Sertãozi ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, Paulista played with modest

Sport Club Corinthians Alagoano Sport Club Corinthians Alagoano, commonly referred to as Corinthians Alagoano, was a Brazilian professional football club based in Maceió, Alagoas. The team last participated in the Campeonato Alagoano in the 2013 season, before merging with ...

and

Esporte Clube Taubaté Esporte Clube Taubaté, commonly referred to as Taubaté, is a professional association football club based in Taubaté, São Paulo, Brazil. The team competes in Campeonato Paulista Série A2, the second tier of the São Paulo state football leag ...

in his country. In 1998, he moved to Portugal where he remained for the following seven years, representing

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Faro in the district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club will play the 2021–22 season in the Liga Portugal ...

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese f ...

and Vitória F.C. in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

and

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

Imortal D.C. Imortal Desportivo Clube ''(abbreviated as Imortal DC and colloquially known as Imortal de Albufeira)'' is a Portuguese sports club centered around a football club based in the city of Albufeira, in the Portuguese region of Algarve. Imortal has a ...

and

F.C. Maia Futebol Clube da Maia is a Portuguese football club based in Maia, Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto. Founded on 4 April 1954, it currently plays in the Porto Regional League, holding home matches at the Estádio Professor Doutor Vieira de Carv ...

in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. His best personal output, in the country and overall, came in the 2003–04 season, when he scored seven goals to help Aves to the eighth position. From 2005 to 2008, Paulista competed in Polish

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

with

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. It ...

, netting five times in 27 appearances in his second year. In July 2008, he signed a two-year contract with

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

, making his official debut for his new club in the first qualifying round of the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

; also in that competition, against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

, he suffered a serious injury which sidelined him for almost a year. Paulista returned to full fitness in the 2009–10 season, scoring twice to help APOEL to the second position. He made three appearances in that campaign's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. After spending the 2010–11 season with

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

, Paulista returned to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

where he played in the lower leagues, starting with

Polonia Bytom Polonia Bytom () is a Polish football club based in Bytom, founded in 1920, two times Polish Champions. The team currently plays in the III liga (as of 2022–23). History Beginnings Polonia was founded on 4 January 1920 in the Upper Silesia ...

, until his retirement at the start of 2014.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paulista, Jean 1977 births Living people People from Sertãozinho Footballers from São Paulo (state) Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards Sport Club Corinthians Alagoano players Esporte Clube Taubaté players S.C. Farense players S.C. Braga players S.C. Braga B players C.D. Aves players Imortal D.C. players Vitória F.C. players F.C. Maia players Wisła Kraków players APOEL FC players AEK Larnaca FC players Polonia Bytom players LZS Piotrówka players Skra Częstochowa players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Ekstraklasa players I liga players II liga players III liga players Cypriot First Division players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus