Alberto Abdiel Quintero Medina (born 18 December 1987) is a Panamanian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays for Peruvian club

Cienciano Club Sportivo Cienciano is a professional football club based in Cusco, Peru that currently plays in the Peruvian Primera División. The club was founded in 1901 by a group of students of the ''Colegio Nacional Ciencias del Cusco'' (National S ...

and the Panama national team as a winger.

Club career

Early years and Spain

Nicknamed ''Negrito'', Quintero was born in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

. After beginning in his country with Chorrillo F.C. he moved to Spain in the summer of 2008, playing amateur football with Torrellano CF in

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at ''Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 spe ...

, three levels above his previous and just returned to the Segunda División. He struggled tremendously while adjusting to his new team, namely in an incident at

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

on 27 September 2009 (0–0 draw) where he was subjected to constant racist abuse by the opposing fans. His debut in the competition took place on 5 September, coming on as a late substitute in a 2–0 home win against

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

. In 2011, after one season in the Segunda División B with Ontinyent CF, Quintero returned to his country and Chorrillo.

Mexico

Following a successful campaign for Panama at the

2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 12th CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 22nd CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's fifty years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition began on 7 July 2013 at the ...

, Quintero caught the attention of

C.F. Pachuca Club de Fútbol Pachuca is a Mexican professional football team based in Pachuca, Hidalgo, that competes in Liga MX. Founded by Cornish miners from Camborne and Redruth in 1901, it is one of the oldest football clubs in the Americas, and was ...

, who was due to sign him in August 2013. Nothing came of it, but he moved to another club in Mexico, Ascenso MX's

Lobos BUAP Club de Fútbol Lobos de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla were a Mexican football club based in Puebla, Mexico. The club represented the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. The club's history goes back to the early 193 ...

. After spells at C.F. Mérida and Mineros de Zacatecas, Quintero returned to BUAP in January 2015. Eleven months later, he was loaned to San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer, scoring two of his three goals on 12 May in the 3–1 home victory over

Houston Dynamo FC Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establish ...

. Quintero joined

Peruvian Primera División The Peru First Division (; ''First Division'') —known as Liga 1 Betsson for sponsorship reasons and officially as Liga 1 — is the top flight of association football in Peru. It has been referred to as Torneo Descentralizado since 1966, when ...

side

Club Universitario de Deportes Club Universitario de Deportes, popularly known as Universitario or simply as La "U", is a Peruvian football club located in Lima. The club was founded in 1924 under the name Federación Universitaria by students of the National University of S ...

on 30 January 2017. He scored a career-best 13 goals in his first season.

International career

Quintero was part of the

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

squad that participated in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. He made his full debut that same year, in a friendly against Guatemala. Quintero represented his country in 14 FIFA World Cup qualification matches, and was selected for the

, helping the ''Canaleros'' to finish second in the United States. He was also picked for the following edition, scoring in the group stage opener against Haiti (1–1). In May 2018, Quintero was named in Panama's final 23-man squad for the upcoming edition of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

in Russia. On 6 June, however, he suffered a fractured foot in a friendly with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

after a collision with Bjørn Johnsen, thus being ruled out of the tournament and replaced by

Ricardo Ávila Ricardo Guardia Ávila (born 4 February 1997) is a Panamanian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Veraguas C.D., and the Panama national team. Club career Born in Panama City, Ávila started his career at Chorrillo in 2014, making 39 app ...

. On 5 September 2019, Quintero played his 100th match against

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

International goals

''Panama score listed first, score column indicates score after each Quintero goal.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Quintero, Alberto 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Panama City Panamanian footballers Association football wingers Liga Panameña de Fútbol players Unión Deportivo Universitario players Segunda División players Segunda División B players FC Cartagena footballers Ontinyent CF players Categoría Primera A players Independiente Medellín footballers Lobos BUAP footballers C.F. Mérida footballers Major League Soccer players San Jose Earthquakes players Peruvian Primera División players Club Universitario de Deportes footballers Cienciano footballers Panama international footballers 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2013 Copa Centroamericana players 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2014 Copa Centroamericana players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Copa América Centenario players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Panamanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Colombia Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Peru Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Peru FIFA Century Club