João Paiva


João Pedro de Lemos Paiva is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Swiss club FC Dietikon as a striker.
He spent the vast majority of his professional career in Switzerland.

Club career

Born in Lisbon, Paiva played almost exclusively lower league football in his country: having been under contract with both Sporting Clube de Portugal and C.S. Marítimo, he only appeared for both clubs' reserve sides. In the 2004–05 season he competed with S.C. 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 FC. For 2008–09 he joined FC Luzern in Switzerland, scoring 11 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 a contract with another club in the country, Grasshopper Club Zürich, effective as of July.