Edmundo Salomón Zura de Jesús (born 12 January 1983 in

Pimampiro Pimampiro, also Pimampiru, is the seat of Pimampiro Canton, Imbabura Province, Ecuador. The city is located at an elevation of . It had a population of 8,192 in the 2001 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording ...

, Imbabura), is an

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

ian 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 El Nacional. Zura is a centre forward who is known for his superb heading, powerful shooting and ruthless finishing. Zura celebrates his goals by donning a blue

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

style

wrestling mask A wrestling mask is a fabric-based mask that some professional wrestlers wear as part of their in-ring persona or gimmick. Professional wrestlers have been using masks as far back as 1915 and they are still widely used today, especially in Lucha ...

as a tribute to

Otilino Tenorio Otilino George Tenorio Bastidas (1 February 1980 – 7 May 2005) was an Ecuadorian footballer who played as a forward. Club career Tenorio was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. His nickname was 'Spiderman', because when he scored a goal in a footbal ...

who was killed in a car accident. His brother Rommel Zura is also a professional footballer and playing for Emelec.

Club career

Zura started out playing with the

LDU Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria (), often referred to as Liga de Quito, LDU, is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their ho ...

under-18 side before joining Imbabura SC where he played in the lower divisions. He then moved to El Nacional for six months before rejoining Imbabura SC. He is currently under contract with Imbabura SC until 2011. Zura was loaned out to Macará for a short period in 2004 where he played in the top division of

Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol The Liga Pro Betcris, simply known as the Liga Pro, or the Serie A, is a professional football league in Ecuador. At the top of the Ecuadorian football league system, it is the country's premier football competition. Contested by sixteen clubs, i ...

before returning to play for Imbabura in the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

. He helped Imbabura secure its promotion to the Serie A during the 2006

Clausura The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is div ...

where he was the league's top scorer with 18 goals. Following his impressive displays at the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...

, Zura was again loaned out, this time to

Barcelona SC Barcelona Sporting Club () is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. Internationally known as Barcelona de Ecuador, in Ecuador it is simply referred as Barcelona, El Idolo (BSC) or Barce. T ...

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

. He joined the Ecuadorian giants in December 2007 but his contract was not extended when it expired on 30 June 2008. He returned to Imbabura after only playing five games for Barcelona SC, having been given only limited opportunities by manager

Ever Hugo Almeida Ever Hugo Almeida Almada (born 1 July 1948) is a Paraguayan football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He is the current manager of Ecuadorian club El Nacional. Almeida was born in Salto, Uruguay, but became a naturalized ...

. After his return to Imbabura he played several games in the Serie B but made it clear that he intended to leave and play abroad. On 31 July 2008 Zura joined the reigning Australian champions

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

as a

marquee player A marquee player is an athlete who is considered exceptionally popular, skilled, or otherwise outstanding, especially in professional sports. Its name comes from theater marquees, on which the names of the stars of productions in said theater ar ...

. Zura has joined the Newcastle Jets from Imbabura on a one-year loan deal. He had to travel to

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated Regions of Chile, region, t ...

to obtain an Australian tourist visa which was to be converted to a sporting visa before he could make his

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

debut. As with most imports coming to the A-League, he tried to get his fitness levels up to compete in the physical and

up-tempo A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...

A-League style of play. On 3 November 2008, Newcastle Jets and the striker parted ways. The Ecuadorean requested a mutual termination of his one-year loan deal, citing personal reasons. Zura joined

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 ...

club

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

via loan on 15 August 2011. The loan was terminated by San Jose on 31 August 2011 due to Zura's lack of fitness. Zura returned to El Nacional. In December 2012, Zura moved to Deportivo Quito, where he played with his older brother Romel. Following a short stint with Muchuc Runa, Zura was moved to Club Deportivo Tecnico Universitario, which played in the

Ecuadorian Serie B The Primera Categoría Serie B, shortened to Serie B or Primera B, is a professional football league in Ecuador. It is in the second tier of the Ecuadorian football league system. Currently contested by ten clubs, it operates a system of promotion ...

at the time. Zura retired in 2019.

International career

Zura earned his first cap for

against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

on 10 October 2006 after being called up by

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 ...

coach

Luis Fernando Suárez Luis Fernando Suárez Guzmán (born 23 December 1959) is a Colombian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the current manager of the Costa Rica national football team. Suárez has managed in six Latin American c ...

. He scored his first international goal on 21 January 2007 against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Zura captained Ecuador's under-23 side to victory as an overage player at the

. He scored three goals including the match winning penalty in the final as Ecuador won their first international tournament. He was regarded as Ecuador's most impressive player of the tournament.

Career statistics

Club

''(Correct as of 7 October 2008)''

Honours

Club

; Imbabura *

(2ª division) Clausura: 2006

International

; Ecuador U-20 *

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

: Gold Medal

References

External links

FEF profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zura, Edmundo 1983 births Living people People from Pimampiro Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Association football forwards Ecuador international footballers Ecuadorian footballers C.D. El Nacional footballers Imbabura S.C. footballers C.S.D. Macará footballers Barcelona S.C. footballers Newcastle Jets FC players San Jose Earthquakes players S.D. Quito footballers Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for Ecuador Ecuadorian expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Australia Expatriate soccer players in the United States A-League Men players Major League Soccer players Marquee players (A-League Men) Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Ecuador Pan American Games medalists in football