João Paiva

Born in Lisbon, Paiva played almost exclusively lower league football in his country: having been under contract with both Sporting Clube de Portugal and Marítimo, he only appeared for both clubs' reserve sides. In the 2004–05 season he competed with 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 (half a season with the latter). For 2008–09 he joined Luzern in Switzerland, scoring eleven 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 to a contract with another club in the country, Grasshoppers, effective as of July.

Paiva was hired as the manager of Swiss club Bellinzona in July 2021. He left Bellinzona on 23 August 2021 by mutual consent due to "diverging technical views", with Bellinzona winning 2 out of 3 games under his management.