João Paiva

João Pedro de Lemos Paiva (born 8 February 1983) is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Swiss club FC Dietikon as a striker.

João Paiva
Personal information
Full name João Pedro de Lemos Paiva
Date of birth (1983-02-08) 8 February 1983
Place of birth Lisbon, Portugal
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Dietikon
Youth career
1993–1995 Olivais Moscavide
1995–2001 Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2003 Sporting B 50 (20)
2003–2004 Marítimo B 28 (6)
2004–2005 Espinho 9 (1)
2005–2007 Apollon Limassol 54 (16)
2008 AEK Larnaca 12 (2)
2008–2011 Luzern 72 (23)
2011–2013 Grasshoppers 25 (3)
2013–2014 Wohlen 34 (16)
2014–2016 Winterthur 63 (20)
2016 United Zürich 10 (2)
2017– Dietikon 7 (4)
National team
2001–2002 Portugal U19 10 (0)
2003–2004 Portugal U20 9 (4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14 January 2018

He spent the vast majority of his professional career in Switzerland.

Club career

Born in Lisbon, Paiva played almost exclusively lower league football in his country: having been under contract with both Sporting Clube de Portugal and C.S. Marítimo, he only appeared for both clubs' reserve sides. In the 2004–05 season he competed with S.C. Espinho in the second division, but featured in less than one third of the league games and his team was also relegated after ranking 18th and last.

Paiva then spent three years in Cyprus, with Apollon Limassol and AEK Larnaca FC (half a season with the latter). For 2008–09 he joined FC Luzern in Switzerland, scoring 11 goals in 23 matches in his first year as the side finished ninth in the Super League, only barely avoiding relegation.

In January 2011, Paiva agreed a contract with another club in the country, Grasshopper Club Zürich, effective as of July.[1]

References
  1. Paiva to the Hoppers, Challenge League over Champions League; Just Can't Beat That, January 2011
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