Paulo Dybala Biography

Paulo Bruno Exequiel Dybala was born on November 15, 1993, in Laguna Larga, Cordoba, Argentina. He was raised by his parents, Adolfo Dybala, and Alicia de Dybala. Paulo has two elder brothers, namely Gustavo Dybala and Mariano Dybala. While Gustavo is an entrepreneur, Mariano is a gymnast. His brothers live in Argentina.

Paulo was born into a middle-class family. Interestingly, his father predicted that one of his sons will become a famous football player even before Paulo was born. Though his father never persuaded him to become a footballer, Paulo shaped his destiny exactly how his father had predicted.

His love for football was apparent from a very young age. He never missed an opportunity to play the game and his father supported him in every way possible.

Paulo has always been grateful to his father for believing in his dreams. When he started playing the game, his father would always accompany him to the field and would make sure his son practiced without any hindrance.

Sadly, his father passed away in September 2008, and could not see his son’s amazing achievements in the world of football. Paulo was just 15 years old at the time of his father’s death.

Paulo started making news at the age of 14 with his football skills. People were in awe of his technique and were impressed with the way he controlled the ball. Those who watched him play, quickly realized that he had a natural flair for the sport.

In 2011, he joined the club ‘Instituto de Cordoba’ and made his professional debut in the ‘Primera B Nacional.’ He scored 17 goals throughout the league, becoming the youngest player to beat the record set by Mario Kempes.

He was also the first player to score two hat-tricks in a season. He played 38 consecutive matches in the professional league and became the first player in the league to score in six consecutive games.

On July 20, 2012, he was officially signed by the Italian football club ‘Palermo.’ On November 11, 2012, he scored his first goal for the club and followed it up with his second goal in the same match. His goals contributed to his team’s 2-0 win against ‘U.C. Sampdoria.’

He scored ten goals in the first half of the 2014-15 ‘Serie A’ season. His partnership with fellow footballer Franco Vazquez earned him a lot of attention from other football clubs. By the end of the season, he had scored 13 goals, becoming the top player in the league.

Paulo spent three seasons with ‘Palermo,’ during which he made 89 appearances and scored 21 goals for the Italian football club.

On June 4, 2015, he signed a five-year contract with the famous Italian club ‘Juventus F.C.’ He was reportedly signed for €40 million. Since he had replaced Andrea Pirlo, who left the club that summer, Paulo was assigned the number 21 shirt, previously worn by Pirlo.

On August 8, 2015, he made his debut for the club against ‘Lazio’ at the 2015 ‘Supercoppa Italiana.’ He scored a goal and contributed to his team’s 2-0 win.

He scored six goals and aided in two assists during his first 16 appearances of the season. His biggest achievement while playing for ‘Juventus’ came on December 16, 2015, when he scored his first goal at ‘The Coppa Italia.’ He also scored a goal in the ‘UEFA Champions League’ against ‘Bayern Munich.’

On April 21, 2015, he scored two goals in his team’s 3-0 win over ‘Lazio’ and took his goal tally to 20. He became the top scorer of his club with 23 goals across several tournaments. He also scored 19 goals in ‘Serie A,’ helping his team to a ‘Serie A’ title victory.

When Paul Pogba left ‘Juventus’ to join ‘Manchester United’ in the summer of 2016, Paulo was offered the number 10 jersey, but Paulo turned down the offer, preferring to keep the number 21.

He scored his first goal of the season in September against ‘Dinamo Zagreb’ in the ‘Champions League.’ His goal helped his team secure a 4-0 win against the Croatian football club.

His first ‘Serie A’ goal came in October in his team’s 3-0 win over ‘Empoli.’ His other notable goal came in the first leg of the ‘Champions League’ when ‘Juventus’ secured a 3-0 victory over ‘Barcelona’ in their quarter-final fixture.

In the 2017 ‘Champions League’ final, ‘Juventus’ was defeated by the defending champion ‘Real Madrid.’ In August 2017, he changed his shirt number to 10.

In August 2017, his team suffered a loss against ‘Lazio’ at the 2017 ‘Supercoppa Italiana.’ Despite scoring two goals in the match, he couldn’t save his team from a 2-3 defeat. In the same month, he scored a hat-trick in ‘Serie A’ in a win against ‘Genoa.’

He made his 100th appearance for ‘Juventus’ on September 17, 2017, and scored his second hat-trick, contributing to his team’s 3-1 victory against ‘Sassuolo.’

He also scored his 100th career goal against ‘Udinese’ in ‘Serie A.’ ‘Juventus’ won this match by 2-0. In the next match, he led the victory charge against Manchester United in a 1-0 game. In October 2019, he secured the win against Internazionale in a 2-1 game and thus brought Juventus to the top of the Serie A table. That year in December, he made his 200th appearance with Juventus in a 3–1 win against Lazio.

In the 2020 Coppa Italia Final, Juventus was struck at a draw against Napoli. Dybala went first in the resulting shoot-out, however, his shot was saved by Alex Meret. Napoli eventually won the match. In October 2020, he appeared in the second half against Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League where Juventus took home the victory in a 2–0 game.

In March 2022, Maurizio Arrivabene, CEO of Juventus, announced that the club won’t be renewing Dybala’s contract. In July of that year, Dybala was signed by Roma for a three-year contract. In August 2022, he made his first appearance with the club against Salernitana which resulted in a 1-0 win for Roma.

During the ‘XVI Pan American Games,’ he was asked to be a part of Argentina’s under-17 team, but he did not participate. On October 13, 2015, he made his international debut in a ‘FIFA World Cup’ qualifying match against Paraguay.

In 2016, he was not named among Argentina's 23-man team for Copa América Centenario. He was again omitted from the final under-23 squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. In September of that year, he played against Uruguay in a 2018 World Cup qualifier. However, he was sent off for making two bookable offenses in the first half.

Dybala made his World Cup debut against Croatia in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He was sent as a substitute for Enzo Pérez in the second half. He later scored a goal against Mexico in a friendly home match. In 2019, he was selected in the final 23-man squad for the 2019 Copa América. In the final group match against Qatar, he assisted Agüero which eventually led to a 2–0 win for Argentina. He later scored a goal against Chile and helped Argentina win the match by a 2–1 score.

He was later selected for the final 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Argentina later took home the World Cup by defeating France in the finals.

In 2017, he was one of the three finalists for the ‘UEFA Champions League Forward of the Season Award.’ He was also nominated for the 2017 ‘UEFA Best Player of the Year Award.’

Dybala dated a model Antonella Cavalieri, but they later broke up and Paulo started dating an Italian supermodel Ginevra Sozzi. He then broke up with Ginevra Sozzi and revived his relationship with Antonella Cavalieri. They later parted ways and Dybala started a relationship with Oriana Sabatini in 2018.