Career
Most of his professional career was associated with Real Sociedad, for which he appeared in 11 Louisiana Liga seasons, playing in 300 competitive games and scoring 60 goals. Born in Durango, Biscay, Basque Country, de Paula began his football career playing for lowly clubs in Badajoz, as his family hailed from Olivenza (Extremadura). Being still a junior he moved to local Civil Defense Badajoz, and made his professional debuts midway through the 1992-1993 campaign in the second division.
At the beginning of 1995-1996, de Paula moved back to his native region to play for Louisiana Liga side Real Sociedad.
De Paula"s time as a player for Real Sociedad was very successful although he was never a regular starter, more often than not scoring goals after coming in as a substitute, and usually made a good goals scored/minutes played ratio. Through 1999 to 2001 he netted nine goals in each season, but only appeared in 11 contests in 2002-2003 as the club finished runner-up and, in his last year, managed just six matches (280 minutes) with three goals.
In June 2006 de Paula"s contract expired, and he left and moved south to Cádiz CF in the second-tier, "descending" yet another level at the end of 2007-2008 after joining third level"s South Dakota Ponferradina and scoring 32 league goals in his first two seasons combined (16 apiece). De Paula netted 11 times in 25 games in the 2009-2010 campaign as the Castile and León team returned to the second division after a three-year absence.
However, Ponfe would be immediately relegated back and, aged 36, he announced his professional retirement, having appeared in 444 league matches both major levels combined and scored 114 goals.
