Paulo Dybala

Club

Roma

Position

Second Striker

Nationality

Argentina

Date of birth

1993-11-15

Birthplace

Laguna Larga, Argentina

Height

177 cm

Weight

163 lbs

Shirt number

21

Signing / transfer fee

€68M

Paulo Exequiel Dybala (born 15 November 1993) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Serie A club Roma and the Argentina national team. He is noted by sports journalists for his dribbling, speed, and goal-scoring ability.

Nicknamed "La Joya" ("The Jewel"), Dybala began his senior club career in 2011 playing for Instituto de Córdoba, before signing for Palermo in 2012, at age 18, where he won a Serie B title. In 2015, Dybala signed for Juventus and won five league titles and four Coppas Italia. He was also voted Serie A Most Valuable Player in the season where Juventus won its record 9th Serie A title in a row, and he was included in the Serie A Team of the Year four times, and ranks as Juventus' ninth-highest all-time goalscorer. In 2022, he joined Roma.

Dybala made his senior international debut for Argentina in 2015 at the age of 21, and has since earned over 30 caps, including appearing at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 2019 Copa América, and 2022 World Cup, winning the latter title.

Dybala was born in Laguna Larga, Córdoba, Argentina. His grandfather, Bolesław Dybała, was from the village of Kraśniów in Poland; he fled from his country of birth to Argentina during World War II. Some of his grandfather's family moved to Canada. Dybala's family also has partial Italian origins through his maternal great-grandmother, who was from the Province of Naples.

Due to his family heritage, Dybala was eligible to play for Poland and Italy, but expressly stated that he feels Argentine and had always dreamed of playing for Argentina. Dybala stated "I feel 100 percent Argentinian, I wouldn't be happy in a national team that didn't feel like mine, to hear an anthem that isn't my own, in colours that don't belong to me".

Dybala was called by the Argentina under-17 team to participate in the XVI Pan American Games, but ultimately did not take part in the competition. On 19 July 2012, he received his first call-up for the under-20 team, but declined the invitation.

On 22 September 2015, Dybala was called for the first time for the Argentina senior team by manager Gerardo Martino, but his first appearance was on 13 October 2015, coming off the bench to replace Carlos Tevez in the 75th minute during a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Paraguay. In May 2016, he was omitted from Argentina's 23-man squad for the Copa América Centenario. Although Juventus insisted that they would not release Dybala for t