Jhon Jairo Culma (born 17 March 1981), sometimes spelled as John Jairo Culma, is a Colombian former

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

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 ...

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 ...

, Culma was raised in Ortigal, Cauca. He began playing youth football in the local Valle del Cauca league, and would train with the youth sides of

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 ...

Millonarios Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Millonarios was initially created in 1937 by students f ...

and

Deportivo Cali Asociación Deportivo Cali, best known as Deportivo Cali, is a Colombian sports club based in Cali, most notable for its football team, which currently competes in the Categoría Primera A. Deportivo Cali is one of the most successful footba ...

. At age 17, Culma had a trial with

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, but ultimately moved to Argentina where he signed with Independiente. Culma signed a long-term deal with

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

in 2001, where he would play primarily for its affiliate club, Cruz Azul Oaxaca. However, he was selected to participate in the parent club's 2003 Copa Libertadores matches. In 2005, Brujas manager Carlos Restrepo signed Culma to play for the

Costa Rican Primera División The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Fútbol de Primera División (FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Unión de Clubes ...

club. Culma played for the

Colombia national under-20 football team The Colombia national under-20 football team represents Colombia in international under-20 football competitions and is overseen by the Colombian Football Federation. The team's most notable performance in the FIFA U-20 World Cup was in 2003 ...

, participating in the

2001 South American U-20 Championship The 2001 South American U-20 Championship (Sudamericana sub-20) was a football competition contested by all ten U-20 national football teams of CONMEBOL. The tournament was held in Ecuador between January 12 and February 4, 2003, it was the 20th ti ...

Honours

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

: 2008–09, 2010–11

Personal life

Culma's brother,

Gustavo Gustavo is the Latinate form of a Germanic male given name with respective prevalence in Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. It has been a common name for Swedish monarchs since the reign of Gustav Vasa. It is derived from Gustav /ˈɡʊstɑːv/, a ...

, is also a professional footballer who plays for

Once Caldas Once Caldas S.A., simply known as Once Caldas, is a professional Colombian football team based in Manizales, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Palogrande stadium. They were the surprise winners ...

References

External links

* 1981 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Colombian men's footballers Colombia men's under-20 international footballers Colombian expatriate men's footballers Club Atlético Independiente footballers Cruz Azul footballers Brujas F.C. players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Stade Brestois 29 players Argentine Primera División players Ligue 1 players Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Costa Rica Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in France Colombia men's international footballers Footballers from Valle del Cauca Department {{Colombia-footy-midfielder-stub