Edwin Armando Valencia Rodríguez (; born 29 March 1985) is a Colombian

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 plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Florida, Valle del Cauca Florida () is a town and municipality located in the Departments of Colombia, Department of Valle del Cauca Department, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Its first inhabitants were indigenous peoples, mestizos, afro-Latinos and mulattos. Local rivers a ...

, Valencia joined

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 ...

's youth setup in 1996, aged 11. He was promoted to the main squad in January 2004, appearing in 14 matches and scoring three goals in the campaign.

Atlético Paranaense

In 2007, after having his wage cut by half and thus forcing a release from América, Valencia moved abroad for the first time in his career, joining Atlético Paranense on a free transfer, along with fellow countryman and teammate Julián Viáfara. He made his Série A debut on 24 June 2007, starting in a 2–0 away win against

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

. On 12 April 2008 Valencia scored his first goal for ''Furacão'', netting the game's winner in a home success against

Toledo Colônia Work Toledo Esporte Clube, commonly known as Toledo, is a Brazilian professional association football club based in Toledo, Paraná, that competes in the Série D, the fourth tier of Brazilian football, as well as in the Campeonato Paranaense, the ...

for the

Campeonato Paranaense Campeonato Paranaense, which has been contested since 1915, is the top-flight football league of the state of Paraná, Brazil. Format The format has changed in 2014. 12 teams are together in a single group. They play against each other once, ...

championship. He was an undisputed starter for the club, which his side narrowly avoiding relegation in the following seasons.

Fluminense

On 15 June 2010 Valencia moved to fellow league team

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, ...

. He soon profited from Diogo's injury, being an important midfield unit as the club was crowned champions. Valencia subsequently struggled with injuries and fell down through the pecking order, appearing rarely in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, despite appearing regularly, his contract was not renewed and he left ''Flu'' on 12 December.

Santos

On 16 January 2015 Valencia signed a one-year deal with Santos, also in the main level of Brazilian football. He was regularly used during the year's

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

, but was received little playing time after recovering from a severe knee injury suffered while in international duty. On 5 December 2016 Valencia left Santos, after being told that his contract – expiring in the end of the month – would not be renewed.

Atlético Nacional

On 12 January 2017, Valencia returned to his homeland after agreeing to a one-year deal with

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

International career

After appearing with Colombia under-20s in 2005, Valencia made his debut with the full squad on 30 May 2006, coming on as a second half substitute for

Fabián Vargas Fabián Andrés Vargas Rivera (born 17 April 1980) is a Colombian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his professional career playing for América de Cali and Boca Juniors, making more than 100 appear ...

in a 2–1 friendly away win against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. On 28 May 2014, after being regularly called up by manager

José Pékerman José Néstor Pékerman Krimen (; born 3 September 1949) is an Argentine professional football coach and current manager of the Venezuela national team. As a youth level coach for Argentina, he won the FIFA World Youth Championship three times, ...

, Valencia suffered an injury which forced him out of

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. Called up for

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

, he started the first three games of the competition, suffering a serious knee injury in the last one and being sidelined for six months.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

;Atlético Paranaense *

: 2009 ;Fluminense * Série A:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Taça Guanabara The Taça Guanabara, or Guanabara Cup, is a football tournament organized annually since 1965 by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation. In its first four editions (1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968), the Taça Guanabara was a tournament in its o ...

: 2012 *

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

;Santos *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

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 trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

International

;Colombia U20 *

South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as U-20 South American Championship and es, Torneo Juventudes de América, "Campeonato Sudamericano Sub 20" or pt, Juventude da América (English: "America's Youth") is a South American f ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia, Edwin 1985 births Living people Footballers from Valle del Cauca Department Colombian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Categoría Primera A players América de Cali footballers Atlético Nacional footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Club Athletico Paranaense players Fluminense FC players Santos FC players Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Colombia men's under-20 international footballers Colombia men's international footballers 2015 Copa América players