Paulo César Baier (born 25 October 1974), known as Paulo Baier, is a Brazilian football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former player who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is the current manager of Botafogo-SP. Baier's 21-year career started in 1995 with São Luiz-RS, as a right back. Mainly associated to

Criciúma Criciúma is a city in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. At , it is located 180 km south of Florianópolis, the state capital and around 900 km south of São Paulo. The city is the center of Brazil's flooring and home materials i ...

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiânia. ...

and Atlético Paranaense, he scored totals of 106 goals since the establishment of the round-robin format of the Série A, being the second-best in the tournament's history.

Playing career

Baier was born in Ijuí, Rio Grande do Sul, and started his career at the age of 12, training with Gaúcho's youth setup. In 1991, after representing hometown amateur sides Esporte Clube Flamengo Vila Santo Antônio and Sociedade Recreativa Esportiva Chorão, he went on a trial at São Luiz. Baier subsequently joined the club's youth setup, but was converted into a right back during his formation. Promoted to the first team in 1995 and known as Paulo César, he was regularly used during his two-year spell. In 1997, Baier joined Série A side

, after impressing in a friendly match against the club. He made his debut for the club on 5 July, starting in a 1–1 away draw against América-RN, and scored his first goal on 12 October, netting the last in a 2–0 home defeat of

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest ...

. In the middle of 1998, after winning the year's

Campeonato Catarinense The Campeonato Catarinense de Futebol, known as Campeonato Catarinense or simply Catarinense, is the main competition of association football from state of Santa Catarina, in Brazil. History The Campeonato Catarinense top level has had several ...

, Baier moved to Atlético Mineiro (two stints). Sparingly used, he subsequently represented

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

América Mineiro The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Pelotas Pelotas () is a Brazilian city and municipality (''município''), the third most populous in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is located 270 km (168 mi) from Porto Alegre, the state's capital city, and 130 km (80.8&n ...

before returning to Criciúma in 2002. As the club already had a ''Paulo César'' in the squad, he was initially known as Paulo César Baier, but it was "too long". He then started to be called as Paulo Baier, and was a regular starter as the club won the year's Série B. In the final, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

in a 4–1 home routing of

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the ...

. Ahead of the 2004 season, Baier moved to

also in the main category. He scored a career-best 15 league goals during the campaign, and added a further eight in 2005; in the latter year he also finished the

Campeonato Goiano The Campeonato Goiano is the football league of the state of Goiás, Brazil. Format First Division First stage *Teams are divided in two groups of six teams. *Double round-robin, in which all teams home-and-away games against the team fr ...

as the top goalscorer, with 12 goals. On 7 December 2005, Baier signed a two-year deal with

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is one ...

. On 16 March 2007, after having unpaid wages, he returned to his previous club Goiás. On 5 January 2009, Baier moved to

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

, but rescinded his contract in June after several altercations with manager Nelsinho Baptista. He then moved to Atlético Paranaense, On 30 December 2013, aged 39, Baier returned to his main club Criciúma after his contract with Atlético expired. A regular starter, he scored nine goals in all competitions, as his side suffered relegation. Baier represented clubs in his native state in his two last campaigns, playing for Ypiranga, Juventude and first club São Luiz. He announced his retirement on 7 June 2016, at the age of 41, and finished his 21-year career as the second-best goalscorer of the Série A in the round-robin format, with 106 goals.

Managerial career

On 12 February 2017, Baier was announced as the new manager of Panambi, but turned down the offer the following day. On 14 August, he was named manager of Toledo Colônia Work, but only took over the club in December. On 1 August 2018, Baier was named manager of Criciúma's neighbouring side

Próspera Próspera is a private city and special economic zone on the island of Roatán in the Central American state of Honduras. The city is an autonomous zone with private government and its own fiscal, regulatory and legal architecture. Overview ...

, and won the third division of the

in his first season in charge. He left in 2019 to take over

Brusque Brusque may refer to: * Brusque, Aveyron, France * Brusque, Santa Catarina, Brazil * Brusque Futebol Clube, Brazilian football (soccer) club People with the surname * Nicolas Brusque Nicolas Brusque (born 7 August 1976 in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlan ...

, and returned to Toledo in 2020. Back at Próspera in 2020, Baier led the club to the title of the second division of the Catarinense. On 4 May 2021, he returned to Criciúma after six years, but now as manager. On 4 October 2021, despite leading Criciúma to the final stages of the 2021 Série C, Baier was sacked. On 14 February 2022, he replaced Pingo at the helm of his first professional side São José, but was himself sacked on 15 March. On 23 May 2022, Baier replaced

Leandro Zago Leandro Calixto Zago (born 27 May 1981) is a Brazilian football coach, currently in charge of Portuguesa. Career Born in Campinas, São Paulo, Zago began his career as a fitness coach at hometown side Campinas FC in 2008, before moving to Desp ...

at the helm of Botafogo-SP also in the third division.

Personal life

Baier's younger brother Éder was also a footballer. He also represented São Luiz.

Career statistics

Honours

Player

;Criciúma *

: 1998 *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The Campeonato Brasileiro Série B is commonly referred to as the Brasileirão Série B (Série B), and until 2022 was officially called Brasileirão Sportingbet by sponsorship reasons. It is the second tier of the Brazilian football league system ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

;Botafogo * Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1999 ;América Mineiro *

Copa Sul Minas Copa Sul-Minas was a Brazilian football competition that ran between 2000 and 2002, with teams from the three Southern states of Brazil, plus the Southeastern state of Minas Gerais. It replaced the 1999 tournament called Copa Sul which only include ...

: 2000 ;Sport *

Campeonato Pernambucano The Campeonato Pernambucano de Futebol (Pernambucan Football Championship, in English) is the football championship of Pernambuco state, Brazil, and is organized by the FPF. The first edition of the Campeonato Pernambucano was played in 1915, a ...

: 2009

Manager

;Próspera *

Série C: 2018 *

Série B: 2020

Individual

* Bola de Prata:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

top goalscorer: 2005 (12 goals) * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Team of the Year:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baier, Paulo 1974 births Living people People from Ijuí Brazilian people of German descent Brazilian footballers Brazilian football managers Association football midfielders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players Esporte Clube São Luiz players Criciúma Esporte Clube players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players CR Vasco da Gama players América Futebol Clube (MG) players Esporte Clube Pelotas players Goiás Esporte Clube players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Sport Club do Recife players Club Athletico Paranaense players Ypiranga Futebol Clube players Esporte Clube Juventude players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C managers Brusque Futebol Clube managers Criciúma Esporte Clube managers Esporte Clube São José managers Botafogo Futebol Clube (SP) managers Sportspeople from Rio Grande do Sul