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 Paz during his time atRacing Club in 1988 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ruben Wálter Paz Márquez | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1959-08-08)8 August 1959 (age 66) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Artigas, Uruguay | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | |||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1966–1975 | Peñarol de Artigas | |||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1975–1977 | Peñarol de Artigas | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1977–1982 | Peñarol | 82 | (39) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1986 | Internacional | 44 | (10) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1987 | Racing Paris | 6 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1989 | Racing Club | 53 | (17) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1989–1990 | Genoa | 25 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1993 | Racing Club | 75 | (12) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1994 | Rampla Juniors | 10 | (2) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Frontera Rivera | 6 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Godoy Cruz | 7 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1996 | Wanderers Artigas | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1997–2000 | Frontera Rivera | 29 | (3) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | Nacional San José de Mayo | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2005 | Tito Borjas | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Pirata Juniors | |||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1990 | Uruguay | 45 | (8) | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ruben Wálter Paz Márquez (born 8 August 1959) is a Uruguayan former professionalfootballer who played as amidfielder. Paz played at twoFIFA World Cups forUruguay and was alsoSouth American Footballer of the Year in 1988. He retired in 2006 at the age of 47. He is currentlyPeñarol's assistant coach.
Ruben Paz began his career at the age of 17 when he joined the Club Atlético Peñarol Montevideo in 1977. He played in Peñarol until February 1982, where he obtained important achievements, winning threeUruguayan league championships (1978, 1979 and 1981) and became top scorer of the Uruguayan league by 1981.
In 1982, he emigrated to the Brazilian League, specifically the Rio Grande do Sul teamInternacional, where he won three consecutiveGaúcho championships (1982, 1983, 1984) and was considered the best player of the Brazilian league by 1985–86.
In 1986 he makes the leap to Europe, specifically to Matra Racing Paris (now the Racing Club de France) of theLigue 1 of French Football, where he played alongside his compatriotEnzo Francescoli.
The following year he was transferred toRacing Club de Avellaneda in theArgentine league, where he becomes the team leader and an idol for the fans of the squad that conquered the South American Super Cup andInteramericana Super Cup [es] in 1988. That same year he was crowned as both theArgentinian andSouth American Footballer of the Year. He was one of the few players in Argentinian football to be respected by all supporters.
During the 1989–90 season he transferred toGenoa in theSerie A of the Italian Football League, coinciding with two compatriots,José Perdomo andCarlos Aguilera.
The following year he returned to Racing Club. In 1993 he returned to Uruguay to play in Rampla Juniors, and the following year moved to the Frontera Rivera club, where he stayed until 2000, except for the 1996 season, when he played forGodoy Cruz of Mendoza, Argentina. Later he continued to play in smaller clubs, ending his playing career in 2006.
Participated in the Uruguayan team that won theMundialito in 1980. Later he played in two editions of the World Cup, those held in Mexico in 1986 and Italy in 1990, in which his national team was eliminated in second round by Italy.
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uruguay[1] | 1979 | 3 | 1 |
| 1980 | 10 | 4 | |
| 1981 | 7 | 1 | |
| 1982 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1983 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1984 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1985 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1986 | 3 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1988 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1989 | 14 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 6 | 0 | |
| Total | 45 | 8 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 September 1979 | Estadio Centenario,Montevideo, Uruguay |  Paraguay | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1979 Copa América |
| 2 | 11 December 1980 | Estadio Campus Municipal,Maldonado, Uruguay |  Bolivia | 4–0 | 5–0 | Friendly |
| 3 | 18 December 1980 | Estadio Luis Tróccoli,Montevideo, Uruguay |  Switzerland | 2–0 | 4–0 | |
| 4 | 3–0 | |||||
| 5 | 4–0 | |||||
| 6 | 9 August 1981 | Estadio Centenario,Montevideo, Uruguay |  Colombia | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 7 | 23 April 1986 | Lansdowne Road,Dublin, Republic of Ireland |  Republic of Ireland | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 8 | 10 July 1989 | Maracanã Stadium,Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Paraguay | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1989 Copa América |
Peñarol
Internacional
Racing Club
Uruguay
Uruguay squads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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