Carlos Gamarra

Club

International

Scores and results list Paraguay U23's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gamarra goal.

Born in Ypacarai, Gamarra began his club career playing for Cerro Porteño in his home country in 1991, and went on to win the Paraguayan national championship with Cerro in 1992. He moved to Independiente for the 1992–93 football season in Argentina, but stayed only briefly before moving back to Cerro Porteño. In 1995, Gamarra joined Internacional in Brazil, where his profile grew, eventually resulting in the naming of him as Paraguayan Footballer of the Year in 1997 by the Paraguayan newspaper Diario ABC Color (an achievement which Gamarra repeated in 1998). He moved to S.L. Benfica for the Portuguese 1997–1998 season, before returning to Brazil, this time with SC Corinthians, where he won Serie A Brazilian Championship in 1998. After finishing the 1999 Brazilian football season with Corinthians, he moved to the Spanish league, after the Brazilian club agreed with Atlético Madrid for 9 million USD in June 1999. Atlético were surprisingly relegated in 2000, and Gamarra briefly moved back to Brazil, this time joining Flamengo. On 24 July 2001 Gamarra returned to Europe and was loaned to the Greek side, AEK Athens for a fee of 200 million drachmas (€600,000) with a buy-out option. There established as a key player of the club and leader in their defense. Despite losing the Championship in a tie with Olympiacos, they won the Greek Cup. On the back of his World Cup performance in 2002, he joined Inter Milan in Italy's Serie A for the 2002–03 season. In his first pre-season, he…

Gamarra's first international cap came against Bolivia on 27 March 1993, a 2–1 loss for Paraguay. Gamarra made his first big impact in international football during Paraguay's campaign at 1998 FIFA World Cup, in the second round of which Paraguay were knocked out by France (the eventual winners). Gamarra played in all four of Paraguay's games, garnering great respect for his defensive skills, and did not concede a single foul in any of his side's matches. FIFA named him as part of the All-Star team of the World Cup. At the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Paraguay were once again knocked out in the second round. Gamarra played every single minute of Paraguay's campaign, and again completed his side's participation without conceding a foul. Gamarra captained the Paraguay side to a silver medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics, losing 1–0 to Argentina in the final. On 4 August, before the Summer Olympics began, he played in a preparation game against the Portugal of Cristiano Ronaldo in the city of Algarve, resulting in a 5–0 defeat. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Gamarra was the first player in the tournament to score an own goal, from an incoming free kick from David Beckham in his team's opening match against England, which eventually led to England's 1–0 win. (Scored after just three minutes, this became the fastest World Cup finals own goal in history, until the 2014 FIFA World Cup where Sead Kolašinac scored just after two minutes playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina…

Cerro Porteño

Paraguayan League: 1992, 1994 Torneo República: 1991 Internacional

Campeonato Gaúcho: 1997 Corinthians

Campeonato Brasileiro: 1998 Campeonato Paulista: 1999 Flamengo

Campeonato Carioca: 2001 Copa dos Campeões: 2001 AEK Athens

Greek football Cup: 2002 Inter Milan

Coppa Italia: 2005 Paraguay

Silver medal, Olympic Games: 2004 Individual

El País South America Ideal Team of the Year: 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2005 Paraguayan Footballer of the Year: 1997, 1998 FIFA World Cup: All-star team 1998 1998 Best Defender CONMEBOL Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Team of the Year: 2005 Bola de Prata: 1995, 1996, 1998, 2005