Name Asdrubal Paniagua Years Team Role Football player | 1970-1976 Saprissa 1977-1984 Herediano | |
Full name Asdrubal Paniagua Ramirez Date of birth (1951-07-29) 29 July 1951 (age 64) | ||
Place of birth San Rafael de Heredia | ||
Asdrúbal Paniagua Ramírez (born 29 July 1951, in San Rafael de Heredia) is a retired professional football player from Costa Rica.
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Better known as Yuba, he played most of his career for Deportivo Saprissa, where he is still remembered as an idol.
Club career
Paniagua is vastly recalled for his great shooting skills, his excellent passing abilities and sense of team organizement inside the field. Overall, he was a short midfielder, with extraordinary talent, and was part of the famous Saprissa's midfield whose way of playing made history in the CONCACAF region.
Paniagua was part of the mythical Saprissa squad that won six consecutive championships from 1972 to 1977, a record both in Costa Rica as well as in the American continent. He was the club's leading scorer with twelve goals in 1974.
Paniagua also won three titles with Herediano.
International career
Paniagua appeared in 36 matches for the full Costa Rica national football team from 1971 to 1985, scoring 3 goals, and represented his country in 3 FIFA World Cup qualification matches
Personal life
Paniagua is married to Ligia Fuentes and has fathered seven children; Andrea, Ana Lucrecia, Rebecca, Ana Sofia, Fiorela, Kevin Hasdrubal and Asley. After retiring he fell into a depression and became an alcoholic but he beat his addiction and worked as a sales agent for Grupo TACA. Ironically, he survived a serious car crash after being hit by a drunk-driver in 1997.