Paolo Calione closes his Nacional chapter with a scoreless draw, then heads to Qatar's Al-Wakrah

A scoreless draw wasn't the farewell Paolo Calione had pictured. But that's how it went: this Thursday, in the first round of the 2026 Copa AUF Uruguay, the defender played all 90 minutes against Albion and closed out, without fully knowing it at the time, his time at Nacional. This week confirmed what had already been brewing: Calione is heading to Al-Wakrah of Qatar.

It's a lot of years to wrap up in a single match. Calione joined Nacional when he was just twelve years old and stayed there all the way to turning professional. Born in Canelones on May 22, 2006, he made his first-team debut on March 16, 2025, and has since racked up 33 appearances in the tricolor jersey. A little over a year and a half of a career, but with a club behind it that shaped him since childhood.

In the mixed zone, still running on the adrenaline of the last match, the defender didn't hide that the recent days had been intense. "The days have been tough, with nerves and anxiety. When you're at the club, you always have to think about the team, and that's what I did right up until this Thursday, when it was time for me to leave. I'm convinced about this decision. I was ready to go wherever, and also ready to stay and fight for a spot at Nacional," Paolo Calione

On the result against Albion, he was honest: he would have preferred a different ending. "I'm leaving a little unsatisfied with the draw, I wanted to go out with a win. What matters is that I'm leaving while still playing, and I really enjoyed the celebration that happened after the match. I feel lucky to have experienced that before leaving," Paolo Calione

That celebration was the send-off that Nacional fans organized ahead of this Sunday's clasico against Peñarol, one that Calione got to experience as an unexpected farewell of his own. As for what's next in Qatar, he mentioned he's already been in touch with a former Uruguayan teammate who moved abroad before him: "The desire to play is always there, especially after being at Nacional. Hopefully with this opportunity now we can get the minutes we're looking for. The first thing I did was call Federico Bais (who joined Al-Shamal SC of Qatar in August) to get a sense of the environment there. That helped me a bit in making this decision."

Twelve years of history in the tricolor jersey

Speaking with El Espectador Deportes, Calione also looked back on how he ended up at Nacional. It wasn't a straightforward path: he came close to signing with Liverpool before choosing the Bolso instead. "I remember I was in Liverpool's youth scouting program and I'd gotten calls from a bunch of clubs, but not Nacional yet. Then, near the end, Nacional called, and honestly I didn't want to pull away from what I had going with Liverpool at that point, even though I'd been a Nacional fan for as long as I could remember. But thanks to my parents and friends convincing me, I took the step of joining Nacional. I don't regret it, and as a fan I'm grateful for that moment of deciding to come to Nacional."

There was also room for a family story, the kind that explains why he ended up playing as a lefty. He recalled that as a kid he used to train with his father in goal: his dad would keep goal while Calione took shots. When he tried with his right foot, it just didn't work out, and his father set a clear condition for them to keep playing together: strike it with his left foot or stop playing altogether. He had no choice but to stick with his left leg, and that's how the defender who is now starting a new chapter in Qatari football came to be.