Arílson de Paula Nunes (born October 30, 1971), better known as Paulo Nunes, is a Brazilian football

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

and retired

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 ...

Club career

Flamengo

A product of

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

's youth system, Paulo Nunes was part of a remarkable generation of players revealed by the

Gávea Gávea is an affluent residential neighborhood located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It borders São Conrado, Leblon, Lagoa and Jardim Botânico neighborhoods and is famous for its high concentration of artists. PU ...

team, such as

Djalminha Djalma Feitosa Dias (born 9 December 1970), known as Djalminha , is a Brazilian football pundit and retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Blessed with superb skill and technical ability but possessing a troubles ...

Júnior Baiano Raimundo Ferreira Ramos Júnior (born 14 March 1970), known as Júnior or Júnior Baiano as he comes from the state of Bahia, is a former Brazilian professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Club career Born in Feira de Santana, Jú ...

Marquinhos Marcos Aoás Corrêa (born 14 May 1994), known as Marquinhos, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, which he captains, and the Brazil national team. Mainly a centre-back, he can ...

, Nélio,

Marcelinho Carioca Marcelo Pereira Surcin (born 1 February 1971), known as Marcelinho Carioca, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was noted for his accuracy from free-kicks, having scored 80 free kick goals in ...

and

Sávio Sávio Bortolini Pimentel (born 9 January 1974), known simply as Sávio (), is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a left winger. Known as ''"Anjo Loiro"'' ("Blonde Angel") and ''"Diabo Loiro"'' ("Blonde Devil"), he played most ...

. However, Paulo Nunes did not achieve stardom in Flamengo, and only went to achieve success in other clubs, as it was the case with his former youth team teammates. Paulo Nunes, however, won the

1990 Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil 1990 was the 2nd staging of the Copa do Brasil. The competition started on June 19, 1990, and concluded on November 7, 1990, with the second leg of the final, held at the Estádio Serra Dourada in Goiânia, in which Flamengo li ...

with the Rio club, the 1991

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

and finally the

1992 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 1992 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 36th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. The competition was won by Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simpl ...

Grêmio

Paulo Nunes left Flamengo in 1995, moving on to Grêmio, where he joined another player who had left a

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

club, Jardel. Alongside him, Paulo Nunes formed one of the most effective attacking duos in Grêmio history. At Grêmio, Paulo Nunes lived the most glorious time in career, winning two

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho Série A1 (Gaúcho Championship A1 Series or Série A1), officially named as Campeonato da Primeira Divisão de Futebol Profissional da FGF - Divisão Especial - Série A1 and commonly known as Campeonato Gaúcho or Gauchã ...

titles, the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

cup, the Campeonato Brasileiro, the Recopa Sul-Americana and the

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de ...

for the

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

team and being the lead scorer in the 1996 Campeonato Brasileiro and the 1997 Copa do Brasil. His good form also earned him the Bola de Prata from ''

Placar ''Placar'' ( en, Score) is a monthly Brazilian sports magazine. Its first edition was issued by Editora Abril. on March 20, 1970, and since then it has become the most successful sports publication in Brazil, even though it focuses fully on foot ...

'' magazine, also earning him a place in the national team squad for the

1997 Copa América Bolivia hosted the Copa América for the second time in its 38th edition. It was held from 11 to 29 June. It was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. There is no qualifying for the final tournament. All South American ...

Return to Brazil and success at Palmeiras

After departing from Grêmio in 1997, he went on to play for the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

club

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

. However, injuries and clashes with the rest of the squad hastened his return to Brazil. In 1998, Paulo Nunes joined

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

. Joining

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (commonly known as Athletico and formerly known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded on March 26, 1924. The team ...

recruited

Oséas Oséas Reis dos Santos (born May 14, 1971 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil), known as Oséas, is a retired Brazilian Football (soccer), football player. Club statistics National team statistics Honors Team * Copa Libertadores Winner: Copa Libert ...

in the attack, Paulo Nunes went on to win the 1998 Copa do Brasil, the third one in his career, the

Copa Mercosul The Copa Mercosur (, pt, Copa Mercosul , "Mercosur Cup") was a football competition played from 1998 to 2001 by the traditional top clubs from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile. The competition was created by CONMEBOL to generate TV m ...

and also the 1999 Copa Libertadores. After the defeat against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

for the Intercontinental Cup, Paulo Nunes left Palmeiras.

Departure from Palmeiras

Paulo Nunes returned to Grêmio for one season with no great fanfare. Afterwards, he played for

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

, Gama,

Al Nassr Al Nassr Football Club ( ar, نادي النصر السعودي; '' Naṣr'' meaning ''Victory'') is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at the Mrsool Park. Their home colours are yellow ...

and

Mogi Mirim Mogi Mirim is a municipality located in the eastern part of São Paulo State, in Brazil. The population is 93,650 (2020 est.) in an area of 498 km². The elevation is 611 m. Mogi Mirim is around 65 km from Campinas, the biggest city in ...

, where he retired in 2003, at the age of 32.

International career

Paulo Nunes played his first game for the Brazil national team on 3 June 1997, when his country and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

drew 1–1 for the

Tournoi de France The ''Tournoi de France'' ( French, 'Tournament of France') was a friendly international football tournament organised by the French Football Federation (FFF) that was held in France. There have been two tournaments: the first in February 1988 a ...

. Paulo Nunes second and last game for the country was the June 29, 1997

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

final against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, when his team beat the opponent team 3–1. In doing so his 1997 Brazil national team won the

Career statistics

International

Honours

Club

Flamengo *

Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior The Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior (or ''São Paulo Youth Football Cup'', in English), also known as Copa São Paulo de Juniores (''São Paulo Youth Cup'') and Copinha (''Little Cup''), is a cup competition played by Brazilian under-20 associ ...

: 1990 * Copa do Brasil: 1990 * Copa Rio: 1991 * Campeonato Carioca: 1991 * Campeonato Brasileiro: 1992 Grêmio * Campeonato Gaúcho: 1995, 1996 * Copa Libertadores da América: 1995 * Recopa Sul-Americana: 1996 * Campeonato Brasileiro: 1996 * Copa do Brasil: 1997 Palmeiras * Copa do Brasil: 1998 * Copa Mercosul: 1998 * Copa Libertadores da América: 1999 Corinthians * Campeonato Paulista: 2001

International

Brazil * Copa América: 1997

Individual

* Bola de Prata Placar winner: 1996 * Campeonato Brasileiro top scorer (16 goals): 1996 * Copa do Brasil top scorer (9 goals): 1997

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunes, Paulo 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Goiás Brazilian footballers Brazil international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Primeira Liga players CR Flamengo footballers Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players S.L. Benfica footballers Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Al Nassr FC players Mogi Mirim Esporte Clube players Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Copa América-winning players Copa Libertadores-winning players 1997 Copa América players Association football forwards The Farm (TV series) contestants