Adrián Gustavo Paz Charquero (born 9 September 1966) is a Uruguayan football coach and 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 lea ...

. He played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, notably in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for Ipswich Town who were his only team in European football. He also had notable spells across

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

for Vélez Sársfield,

Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "La Plata Students"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata, is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its histo ...

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

and

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

. He also had spells in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

with Shanghai Pudong, Tianjin Teda and Qingdao Etsong and had brief spells with Bella Vista and

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (), more commonly referred to as Peñarol, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club currently competes in the Uruguayan Primera División, the highest tier in Uruguayan football. The nam ...

. He was capped 10 times by

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, scoring once.

Club career

After playing in Uruguay and Argentina, Paz moved to Ipswich Town during the 1994–95 season in a joint transfer with the Argentinian defender

Mauricio Taricco Mauricio Ricardo Taricco (born 10 March 1973) is an Argentine professional football coach and former player who is currently the assistant coach of K League 1 side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Taricco, whose father was Italian and hailed from Sardi ...

. He became the first Uruguayan to play in the English

. In January 1996,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

began allocating players to its newly established teams. Paz was sent to the

where he played 27 games. On February 1, 1997, the Crew sent Paz to the

in exchange for the first-round selection in the 1997 MLS Supplemental Draft. He spent two seasons in Colorado before moving to Tianjin Teda in 1999. He only played one game for Tianjin as he suffered a serious injury during his first game, against

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District. The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...

, and was out injured until the end of 1999. He rejoined Bella Vista in Uruguay in 2000, then went back to China for a third time, where he played for Qingdao Etsong before retiring from football at the end of the season.

International career

He made his debut for

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

(1–0 win) on April 30, 1992, in the

Estadio Centenario Centenario Stadium (, ; , named after the Constitution of Uruguay of 1830, centenary of Constitution of Uruguay, Uruguay's Constitution) is an association football stadium in Montevideo, Uruguay. Located in the Parque Batlle, Parque Battle neig ...

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

under coach Luis Alberto Cubilla. He went on to score the winner in that game.

Coaching career

Paz now resides in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and runs a soccer academy.

Honors

Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paz, Adrian 1966 births Living people Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguay men's international footballers 1993 Copa América players Men's association football forwards C.A. Bella Vista players Peñarol players Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Argentine Primera División players Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in England Ipswich Town F.C. players Premier League players Columbus Crew players Colorado Rapids players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in China Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in China Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in England Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Footballers from Montevideo 20th-century Uruguayan sportsmen