 Gamarra in 2019 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Carlos Alberto Gamarra Pavón[1] | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1971-02-17)17 February 1971 (age 54) | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Ypacaraí, Paraguay | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | |||||||||||||
| Position | Centre back | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1991–1992 | Cerro Porteño | 35 | (2) | |||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Independiente | 8 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1993–1995 | Cerro Porteño | 49 | (2) | |||||||||||
| 1995–1997 | Internacional | 59 | (5) | |||||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Benfica | 13 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Corinthians | 31 | (3) | |||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Atlético Madrid | 32 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2000–2002 | Flamengo | 4 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | →AEK Athens (loan) | 24 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2002–2005 | Internazionale | 27 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Palmeiras | 33 | (2) | |||||||||||
| 2007 | Olimpia | 25 | (1) | |||||||||||
| Total | 340 | (16) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1992–2004 | Paraguay U23 | 18 | (6) | |||||||||||
| 1993–2006 | Paraguay | 110 | (12) | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Carlos Alberto Gamarra Pavón (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈkaɾlosalˈβeɾtoɣaˈmarapaˈβon]) (born 17 February 1971) is a Paraguayan former professionalfootballer who played as acentre back. Hecaptained theParaguay national team at international level and was for a long time the most capped player in Paraguayan football history, having made 110 international appearances and scoring 12 goals.[2] Throughout his career, Gamarra was known for his leadership, physical strength, ability in the air, heading accuracy, and outstanding tackling skills, which made him one of the most respected defenders in South America.[3]
Gamarra appeared for the Paraguay national team 110 times, scoring 12 goals, from 1993 to 2006, representing the team at 10 major tournaments and captained the squad during the latter part of his career. He is the second most capped player of the national team, his record being broken byPaulo da Silva in 2013. Gamarra appeared for Paraguay at threeFIFA World Cup tournaments (1998,2002 and2006), fiveCopa América tournaments (1993,1995,1997,1999 and2004), and twice at the Summer Olympic Games (1992 and2004, with Paraguay claiming Silver Medals in the latter). Gamarra was named as theParaguayan Footballer of the Year in 1997 and 1998, and was also included in the1998 FIFA World Cup Team of the Tournament.
Born inYpacarai, Gamarra began his club career playing forCerro Porteño in his home country in 1991, and went on to win the Paraguayan national championship with Cerro in 1992. He moved toIndependiente for the1992–93 football season in Argentina, but stayed only briefly before moving back to Cerro Porteño.
In 1995, Gamarra joinedInternacional in Brazil, where his profile grew, eventually resulting in the naming of him asParaguayan Footballer of the Year in 1997 by the Paraguayan newspaperDiario ABC Color (an achievement which Gamarra repeated in 1998). He moved toS.L. Benfica for the Portuguese 1997–1998 season, before returning to Brazil, this time withSC Corinthians, where he won Serie A Brazilian Championship in 1998.
After finishing the 1999 Brazilian football season with Corinthians, he moved to theSpanish league, after the Brazilian club agreed withAtlético Madrid for 9 millionUSD in June 1999. Atlético were surprisingly relegated in 2000, and Gamarra briefly moved back to Brazil, this time joiningFlamengo. In the 2001–02 season Gamarra returned to Europe and played on loan forAEK Athens in Greece. There he played in 24league games and won theGreek Cup.
On the back of his World Cup performance in 2002, he joinedInternazionale in Italy'sSerie A for the 2002–03 season. In his first pre-season, he scored the winning goal in the Pirelli Cup final againstRoma. Inter finished the season as runners-up in the league, with Gamarra making 14 appearances. His next season at the club was less successful, as Inter finished fourth in the league, and Gamarra made only 10 appearances. He remained at Inter for the 2004–2005 season, but after another season largely spent on the bench he joined the Brazilian side Palmeiras in July 2005. In 2007, Gamarra decided to return to Paraguay to end his football career and signed forOlimpia. Gamarra decided to retire after the 2007 season.
Gamarra's first international cap came againstBolivia on 27 March 1993, a 2–1 loss for Paraguay.
Gamarra made his first big impact in international football during Paraguay's campaign at1998 FIFA World Cup, in the second round of which Paraguay were knocked out byFrance (the eventual winners). Gamarra played in all four of Paraguay's games, garnering great respect for his defensive skills, and did not concede a single foul in any of his side's matches.FIFA named him as part of the All-Star team of theWorld Cup. At the2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Paraguay were once again knocked out in the second round. Gamarra played every single minute of Paraguay's campaign, and again completed his side's participation without conceding a foul.
Gamarra captained the Paraguay side to asilver medal in the2004 Summer Olympics, losing 1–0 toArgentina in the final. On 4 August, before the Summer Olympics began, he played in a preparation game against thePortugal ofCristiano Ronaldo in the city ofAlgarve, resulting in a 5–0 defeat.[4]
In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Gamarra was the first player in the tournament to score anown goal, from an incoming free kick fromDavid Beckham in his team's opening match againstEngland, which eventually led to England's 1–0 win. (Scored after just three minutes, this became the fastest World Cup finals own goal in history, until the2014 FIFA World Cup whereSead Kolašinac scored just after two minutes playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina against Argentina in the group stages.) During the2006 FIFA World Cup, Gamarra announced his retirement from the Paraguay national team.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Cerro Porteño | 1991 | Paraguayan Primera División | 23 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1992 | Paraguayan Primera División | 12 | 2 | |||||||||
| Total | 35 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Independiente | 1993 | Argentine Primera División | 8 | 0 | ||||||||
| Cerro Porteño | 1993 | Paraguayan Primera División | 15 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1994 | Paraguayan Primera División | 24 | 1 | |||||||||
| 1995 | Paraguayan Primera División | 10 | 1 | |||||||||
| Total | 49 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Internacional | 1995 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A | 17 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1996 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A | 22 | 2 | |||||||||
| 1997 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A | 20 | 3 | |||||||||
| Total | 59 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Benfica | 1997–98 | Primeira Divisão | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 17 | 0 | |
| Corinthians | 1998 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A | 31 | 3 | ||||||||
| 1999 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 31 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 40 | 3 | ||||||
| Atlético Madrid | 1999–2000 | La Liga | 32 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 1 | — | 43 | 1 | |
| Flamengo | 2000 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 1 | ||||
| 2001 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| Total | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 1 | ||||||
| AEK Athens (loan) | 2001–02 | Alpha Ethniki | 24 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 1 | — | 40 | 1 | |
| Inter Milan | 2002–03 | Serie A | 14 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 20 | 0 | |
| 2003–04 | Serie A | 10 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 18 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05 | Serie A | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | ||
| Total | 27 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 0 | ||
| Palmeiras | 2005 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A | 30 | 1 | 30 | 1 | ||||||
| 2006 | Campeonato Brasileiro Série A | 3 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 2 | |||||
| Total | 33 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 41 | 3 | ||||||
| Olimpia | 2007 | Paraguayan Primera División | 25 | 1 | ||||||||
| Career total | 340 | 16 | ||||||||||
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 July 1992 | Estadio Luis Casanova,Valencia, Spain |  Morocco | 3–0 | 3–1[6] | 1992 Summer Olympics |
| 2 | 15 August 2004 | Kaftanzoglio Stadium,Thessaloniki, Greece |  Ghana | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2004 Summer Olympics |
Cerro Porteño
Internacional
Corinthians
Flamengo
AEK Athens
Internazionale
Paraguay
Individual
Paraguay squads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
