Raúl Vicente Amarilla

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Raúl Vicente Amarilla
Personal information
Full name Raúl Vicente Amarilla Vera
Date of birth October 20, 1961 (1961-10-20) (age 46)
Place of birth    Luque, Paraguay
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current club Retired
Youth clubs
Sportivo Luqueño
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1978-1979
1979-1983
1983-1984
1985-1988
1988-1989
1989
1990-1993
1993-1994
Sportivo Luqueño
Real Zaragoza
Racing de Santander
FC Barcelona
Olimpia
América
Olimpia
Yokohama Flügels



35 (9)



26 (15)   
National team2
Spain Under-21 2 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of October 25, 2007.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of October 25, 2007.
* Appearances (Goals)

Raúl Vicente Amarilla (born 1961, in Luque) is a former Paraguayan football striker.

Contents

[edit] Career as a player

Amarilla made his debut in his hometown team, Sportivo Luqueño at the age of 17. Because of his scoring ability and great heading skills (he was fairly tall, 6 feet 3 inches) he soon moved to Spain and played for Real Zaragoza, where Amarilla gained success by leading the team in scoring in the 1982/83 season, finishing as the second best scorer in La Liga. Because of his success in the Spanish League, Amarilla was asked to play for the Spain national under-21 football team. He accepted the offer and this is why later in his career he was not able to play for the Paraguay. After several seasons with Real Zaragoza, Amarilla joined Racing de Santander and ultimately FC Barcelona between 1985 and 1988.

Amarilla returned to Paraguay in 1988 to play for Club Olimpia de Asunción. In 1989, while playing for Olimpia he was the top scorer in the Copa Libertadores of the same year with 10 goals. For the second half of 1989 he went on loan to the popular América de Mexico football team. He returned in 1990 to Paraguay to play again for Olimpia. In that year, he helped the team win the Copa Libertadores, the Supercopa and Recopa Sudamericana by forming the unforgettable feared attacking Olimpia trio along with Gabriel González and Adriano Samaniego . In 1990 he was voted the South American Footballer of the Year. In 1993 he migrated to Japan and the next year, at the age of 34, he returned to Paraguay and retired from professional football by playing again in Olimpia, where he is one of the most loved former players by the fans.

[edit] Titles

[edit] Awards

Preceded by
Bebeto
South American Footballer of the Year
1990
Succeeded by
Oscar Ruggeri

[edit] Career as a coach

A few years aftern retiring from professional football, Amarilla began coaching small teams in the Paraguayan league such as Club Sportivo San Lorenzo and Sportivo Luqueño where he achieved minor success. Afterwards, Amarilla was named the assistant coach of Anibal Ruiz for the Paraguayan national team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification and the 2006 World Cup. After Ruiz resigned from the Paraguayan national team, Amarilla was named as the interim head coach until the start of 2007, where a new head coach is expected to be announced by the Paraguayan Football Association. [1]

[edit] External links