Adolfo José Valencia Mosquera (born 6 February 1968) is a Colombian retired

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 le ...

who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''El tren'' (train) due to his powerful physique, he played in seven countries – having one-year spells in Germany and Spain's top flight – and represented

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

at two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Club career

Born in

Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Buenaventura is a coastal seaport city in the department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia (South America). Buenaventura (Spanish for "good fortune") is the main port of Colombia in the Pacific Ocean. Buenaventura is a city with a population of 333, ...

, Valencia started playing with

Independiente Santa Fe Club Independiente Santa Fe, known simply as Santa Fe, is a Colombian professional football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Santa Fe is one of the th ...

, where his stellar performances earned him a transfer to Germany's

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

. In his sole season (although he still played the first game of 1994–95), he was instrumental in helping the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

ns clinch the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

title, and finished as the team's top scorer alongside

Mehmet Scholl Mehmet Tobias Scholl (born Mehmet Tobias Yüksel; 16 October 1970) is a German football manager and former player. He played most of his career as an attacking midfielder for Bayern Munich. During his career he won the UEFA Cup in 1996 (scoring ...

, with 11 goals. Valencia also played one season in Spain, with

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

, where he was involved in a serious incident with irascible club president

Jesús Gil Gregorio Jesús Gil y Gil (12 March 1933 – 14 May 2004) was a Spanish businessman and politician. He served as Mayor of Marbella between 1991 and 2002, and presided for a 16-year tenure as president of the football club Atlético de Madrid ...

, while vastly underperforming overall: after a

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

match at

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in ''Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club has ...

, the latter said that "The black guy needs to have his throat cut". He subsequently went on to represent, without settling at any club, Independiente Santa Fe,

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

A.C. Reggiana 1919 Associazione Calcio Reggiana 1919, commonly referred to as Reggiana, is a professional football club based in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The club was formed in 2018 upon an idea of 1919, and plays in the Serie C, the third tier of It ...

Independiente Medellín Deportivo Independiente Medellín, also known as Independiente Medellín or DIM, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at Estadio Atanasio Girardo ...

PAOK FC P.A.O.K. FC ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΟΚ, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών, '' Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstadinoupolitón'', "Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of ...

, NY/NJ MetroStars, Zhejiang Lucheng F.C. and

Unión Atlético Maracaibo Club Unión Atlético Maracaibo (usually called Maracaibo) was a professional club founded in 2001 and the club had one First Division title in the professional era. The club was based in Maracaibo. Titles National * Primera División Venezola ...

. While at Zhejiang, Valencia led the Chinese second division in scoring during the 2003 season. In his debut campaign in the

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

, he set a team record by scoring 16 league goals, and retired from football in 2004.

International career

Valencia made his debut for

on 31 July 1992, scoring the only goal in a match against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...

for the Friendship Cup, and proceeded to represent the nation at the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

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 ...

s. In the former edition he netted twice, in group stage defeats to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and the United States. Alongside

Bernardo Redín Bernardo Redín Valverde (born 26 February 1963 in Cali) is a retired Colombian football player. He is the current manager of Cúcuta Deportivo. Playing career Club During the 1980s Bernardo Redin was part of Deportivo Cali's Dinamic Duo with f ...

, Valencia was Colombia's all-time topscorer in the World Cup. On 5 September 1993, he was one of three players on target in a 5–0 win in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

for the 1994 World Cup qualifiers.

International goals

''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Valencia's son, José Adolfo, was also a footballer and a striker. He played mostly for Independiente Santa Fe, and represented Colombia at under-20 level.

Honours

Club

Bayern Munich *

: 1993–94 América Cali *

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor (between 2015 and 2019 ''Liga Águila'') due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a Colombian professional league for association football clubs. It is the ...

: 1997 Maracaibo *

Venezuelan Primera División The Primera División (; en, First Division), or Liga Venezolana (; en, Venezuelan League) is the top-flight professional football league of Venezuela. It was created in 1921 and turned professional in 1957. It is organized by the Federación V ...

: 2003

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia, Adolfo 1968 births Living people People from Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Colombian footballers Association football forwards Categoría Primera A players Independiente Santa Fe footballers América de Cali footballers Bundesliga players FC Bayern Munich footballers La Liga players Atlético Madrid footballers Serie A players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players Super League Greece players PAOK FC players Major League Soccer players New York Red Bulls players Major League Soccer All-Stars China League One players Zhejiang Professional F.C. players UA Maracaibo players Colombia international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1993 Copa América players Colombian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in Venezuela Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Colombian people of African descent Sportspeople from Valle del Cauca Department