Edwin Andrés Cardona Bedoya (; born 8 December 1992) is a Colombian 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

Argentine Primera Division Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

club Racing Club and the Colombia national team.

Club career

Colombia

Cardona made his professional debut in 2009 with

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the oth ...

. His performances led him to getting called up for the Colombian under-20 team. He won an Apertura with Nacional in 2011 before being loaned to fellow Colombian Side Santa Fe. During his brief spell with Santa Fe, Cardona won the 2012 Apertura. The following year, Cardona would join

Atlético Junior Club Deportivo Popular Junior F.C. S.A. (), commonly known as Junior de Barranquilla, by its old name Atlético Junior, or simply as Junior, is a Colombian professional football team based in Barranquilla, that currently plays in the Categoría ...

on a year-long loan. In 2014, he was brought back to Atletico Nacional, converting himself to a key player in his first two seasons. During his most prominent time at the club, Cardona went on to dispute the final of the 2014 Copa Sudamericana. Despite losing the final against Argentine club River Plate, he was amongst the best players of the tournament, even earning the best young player award. That same year, Cardona was included in Star XI of the Americas.

Monterrey

On 16 December 2014, Cardona signed for Liga MX club Monterrey alongside compatriots Alexander Mejía and

Yimmi Chará Yimmi Javier Chará Zamora (born April 2, 1991) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers and the Colombia national team. Club career On December 17, 2014, Rayados de Monterrey ...

. On 18 January 2015, Cardona scored his first goal for ''Los Rayados'', netting against

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whi ...

for the 2014 Clausura. His first brace would come on 7 March against

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in Mexico. The city f ...

. Cardona scored his second brace on 16 August 2015 against

Dorados de Sinaloa Dorados de Sinaloa, or Dorados, is a Mexican professional football club based on Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. History Dorados de Sinaloa was founded on August 9, 2003. The Dorados was the youngest team to play on First Division de México, hav ...

for the 2015 Apertura. During a match for the 2016 Clausura against

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...

, Cardona was praised for scoring an impressive

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

. Due to this, he was given the nickname "Crackdona" amongst Monterrey fans. The match ended in a 2–1 victory with the first goal for Monterrey being scored by fellow countryman

Dorlan Pabón Dorlan Mauricio Pabón Ríos (born 24 January 1988) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Atlético Nacional. He is nicknamed ''Memín'', after an old Mexican comic character named Memín Pinguín. Club career En ...

. On match-day 14, Cardona scored a goal against

Club Tijuana Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, commonly known as Tijuana, or simply as ''Xoloitzcuintle, Xolos'', is a Mexican professional Football team, football club based in Tijuana. The club's badge is the founder's (Jorge Hank) hairless xoloit ...

by chipping it past Argentine keeper Federico Vilar. Monterrey ended up winning the match thus helping maintain their spot as leaders. The following 8 April, Cardona netted another brace against

Jaguares de Chiapas Chiapas Fútbol Club, commonly known as Jaguares de Chiapas, was a football club based in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, that played in the Mexican football league system Liga MX. The team played their home matches at the Estadio Víctor Manuel Re ...

which earned him the man of the match award.

Boca Juniors

On 18 July 2017, the Colombian international joined Argentine giants Boca Juniors on a year-long loan plus a possible six months added if the club advances to the round of 16 at the

2018 Copa Libertadores The 2018 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 59th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. River Plate defeated Boca Juniors in ...

. Monterrey set a $6 million price tag for Cardona if he were to be signed permanently by Boca Juniors. On 14 August, Cardona made his official debut against

Gimnasia y Tiro Club de Gimnasia y Tiro is an Argentine football club, based in the city of Salta. The team currently plays in Torneo Argentino A, the regionalised third division of the Argentine football league system. Gimnasia y Tiro has played four season ...

for the

Copa Argentina The Copa Argentina (English: ''Argentine Cup''), officially known as the "Copa Argentina AXION energy" due to sponsorship reasons, is an official football cup competition organized by the Argentine Football Association (AFA), with the aim of qual ...

where he provided an assist and scored a goal in a 5–0 victory. He made his Superclásico debut on 5 November, scoring a free-kick goal in an eventual 1–2 away win for the ''Xeneizes''.

International career

Youth

Cardona represented his country at the

2009 South American Under-17 Football Championship The 2009 South American Under-17 Football Championship ( es, Sudamericano Sub-17) was a football competition for U-17 national teams affiliated with CONMEBOL. It was the 13th time the tournament was held. The tournament took place in Chile from Apr ...

in Chile, where he became the top scorer with seven goals in seven matches, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 3–0 win against

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: ' ...

. In doing so, he tremendously helped his country qualify for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup due to take place in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

from 24 October to 15 November. Cardona was selected to play for his country in the

2011 Toulon Tournament The 2011 Toulon Tournament was the 39th edition of the Toulon Tournament and took place from 1 June to 10 June. Ivory Coast were the defending champions, but they failed to win a single match and were eliminated in the group stage. Colombia won ...

in France. He scored three goals in the Championships including two goals against Ivory Coast and a goal against Mexico in the semi-final. Colombia went on to win the final in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

against the host nation France.

Senior

On 3 October 2014, Cardona was called up to the Colombian senior team, for the first time, by manager Jose Nestor Pekerman for the team's friendlies against El Salvador and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. As a starter, he made his senior debut against El Salvador. He was called up again for Colombia's national team on 3 November 2014, this time for friendlies 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 territori ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. He assisted

Teófilo Gutiérrez Teófilo Antonio Gutiérrez Roncancio (; born 17 May 1985), commonly known as Teo, is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Categoría Primera A club Deportivo Cali and the Colombia national team. Early life Guti ...

in the 86th minute winning goal for an eventual 2–1 victory over the United States. Cardona would score his first goal for the national team against

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

in a 3–1 victory. Cardona scored his first goal during an official competition with the Colombian senior team during the CONMEBOL qualifiers for the Russia 2018 World Cup match against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

which was won by Colombia 2–0. In May 2018, he was named in Colombia's preliminary 35 man squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

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. However, he did not make the final 23-man-cut.

Controversy

In a friendly match between Colombia and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

in Suwon on 10 November 2017, with Colombia down 0–2 in the 62nd minute,

James Rodríguez James David Rodríguez Rubio (born 12 July 1991) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Super League Greece club Olympiacos and the Colombia national team. He has been praised in the past ...

attempted to pick up Korean player Jin-Su Kim from the ground in a rough manner after Kim was fouled. Korean captain Sung-Yueng Ki lightly shoved Rodríguez, and Rodríguez then fell to the ground while pretending to cover his eye as if Ki slapped his face. Edwin Cardona was caught up in the ensuing scuffle and was caught on camera making a slant-eyed gesture toward the Korean players. Although the incident went unnoticed by the match referee, the incident sparked outrage on social media and calls for heavy FIFA punishment for the Boca Juniors player. Cardona apologized the same day via

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, saying that "I didn't mean to disrespect anyone, a country or a race, but if anyone felt offended, or interpreted it in that way, I am sorry." In December 2017 FIFA banned Cardona for five international games, although he would still be able to participate in the upcoming World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cardona goal.''

Honours

Atlético Nacional * Categoría Primera A: 2011-I, 2014-I Independiente Santa Fe * Categoría Primera A: 2012-I Boca Juniors * Argentine Primera División: 2017–18 *

: 2019–20 *

Copa de la Liga Profesional The Copa de la Liga Profesional (English: ''Professional League Cup''; officially named "Copa Diego Armando Maradona" in its first edition) is an official Argentine football cup competition. The cup was planned and organised by the "Liga Profesi ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Colombia U-20 *

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

: 2011 Colombia * Copa América Third place:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Individual *

South American Under-17 Football Championship The South American U-17 Championship (; ) is a football competition held every two years for South American under-17 teams. The tournament was born in 1985 out of a need for a classification tournament for the newly created FIFA U-16 World Cup (now ...

top scorer: 2009 * Star XI of the Americas: 2014

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardona, Edwin 1992 births Living people Colombian footballers Men's association football midfielders Atlético Nacional footballers Independiente Santa Fe footballers Atlético Junior footballers C.F. Monterrey players Boca Juniors footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Categoría Primera A players Liga MX players Argentine Primera División players Colombia men's youth international footballers Colombia men's under-20 international footballers Colombia men's international footballers Colombian expatriate footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Mexico Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Argentina 2015 Copa América players Copa América Centenario players 2019 Copa América players 2021 Copa América players Footballers from Medellín