The football player Paulinho, whose biography and sports career is described in this article, is a player of the Spanish “Barcelona” and the national team of Brazil. During his career, he managed to play in many countries, including Lithuania, Poland, England and China.
Biographical data
The future world-famous football player Paulinho (real name - Jose Paulo Bezerra Maciel Junior) was born in July 1988 in the Brazilian city of São Paulo.
Like other South American players, he started with futsal, playing for the Pan de Askuar youth team.
In 2006 he was transferred to an adult squad, but his career in Brazil temporarily ended on this. He was given to the Lithuanian club of FC Vilnius.
Professional career
In the modest Lithuanian championship, football player Paulinho quickly became a real star. For FC “Vilnius”, the Brazilian midfielder spent 38 matches and scored 5 goals. Due to financial problems, the Paulinho team had to move to the Polish “Lodz”. But here the career did not work out, so he decided to return to his homeland.
In Brazil, Paulinho began playing for his hometown club, Pan de Askuar. After a successful season, he moved to the Bragantino Serie B club, and a year later he signed a contract with Corinthians.
Very quickly, football player Paulinho became an indispensable player in the Brazilian club. After Corinthians won the 2012 Libertadores Cup and Club World Cup, many European teams began to hunt for a talented midfielder.
The most persistent were the representatives of Tottenham Hotspur, where he moved to in 2013 for 17 million euros. After returning to Europe, Paulinho spent two good seasons with Spurs. He played in 45 matches and scored 6 goals. But after a very financially attractive offer from the Guangzhou Evergrand club, Paulinho left the English Premier League and Europe.
In the Chinese Super League, the Brazilian midfielder spent three seasons, played in 63 matches and scored 16 goals. He became the champion of the country three times.
In 2017, he received an offer to return to Europe - this time to the Spanish “Barcelona”. Paulinho agreed, and soon a transfer of the player took place, which was estimated at 40 million euros. The transition took place despite the dissatisfaction on the part of Catalan fans who considered this deal a waste of money.
As part of the Catalan team, the Brazilian started the 2017/18 season very well. In 17 fights, he managed to score 4 goals.
Team appearances
For the first time in the national team of Brazil, Paulinho was called in 2011. His debut took place in a match against Argentina, in which he spent 88 minutes on the field.
At the Confederations Cup in 2013, football player Paulinho first hit the gate of the Japanese national team, and in the semifinals he scored the decisive goal for Uruguay. Following the results of the tournament, he, together with the Brazilian team, became the owner of this prestigious trophy, and also entered the symbolic competition team.
In March 2017, Paulinho made a large number of sports journalists and football experts talk about himself again. In the qualifying match for the World Cup against the national team of Uruguay, the midfielder gave phenomenal performance, scoring 3 goals.