João Pedro de Lemos Paiva (born 8 February 1983) is a Portuguese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and a former striker. He spent the vast majority of his professional career in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Club career

Born in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Paiva played almost exclusively lower league football in his country: having been under contract with both

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

and

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. ...

, he only appeared for both clubs' reserve sides. In the 2004–05 season he competed with S.C. Espinho 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 ...

, but featured in less than one third of the league games and his team was also relegated after ranking 18th and last. Paiva then spent three years in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, with

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

and

AEK Larnaca FC 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 ...

(half a season with the latter). For 2008–09 he joined

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...

in Switzerland, scoring 11 goals in 23 matches in his first year as the side finished ninth in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

, only barely avoiding relegation. In January 2011, Paiva agreed a contract with another club in the country,

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

, effective as of July.

Coaching career

Paiva was hired as the manager of Swiss club

AC Bellinzona AC Bellinzona is a Swiss football club based in Bellinzona. It was founded in 1904, and won the Swiss Super League in 1948. After being folded in 2013 declaring bankruptcy, the team played the Ticino Group of 2.Liga, the sixth tier of the Swi ...

in July 2021. He left Bellinzona on 23 August 2021 by mutual consent due to "diverging technical views", with Bellinzona winning 2 out of 3 games under his management.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paiva, Joao 1983 births Living people Footballers from Lisbon Portuguese footballers Association football forwards Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Sporting CP B players C.S. Marítimo players S.C. Espinho players Cypriot First Division players Apollon Limassol FC players AEK Larnaca FC players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players FC Luzern players Grasshopper Club Zürich players FC Wohlen players FC Winterthur players Portugal youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Portuguese football managers AC Bellinzona managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Switzerland