Julio César Dely Valdés (born March 12, 1967) is a Panamanian former 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 played as a striker. He is a

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

brother of

Jorge Dely Valdés Jorge Luis Dely Valdés (born March 12, 1967) is a Panamanian former footballer who played as a forward. He is a twin brother of Julio Dely Valdés and younger brother of Armando Dely Valdés. Club career Born in Colon, Dely Valdés began ...

and younger brother of Armando Dely Valdés.

Club career

Born in Colón, Dely Valdés began his professional career in 1987 in Argentina with Deportivo Paraguayo of Argentina (after trying up to get in the Argentinos Juniors' Squad), where he scored 28 goals. He then moved to

Club Nacional de Football Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' or simply as Nacional) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' and ''Mon ...

in Uruguay, where he scored more than 100 goals and won the

Uruguayan Championship Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

in 1992. In

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, he played for Cagliari in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

and

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

alongside Brazilian players like

Raí Raí Souza Vieira de Oliveira (born 15 May 1965), known as Raí (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He spent the better part of his 15-year career with São Paulo and Paris Saint-Germain, wi ...

and

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate ...

in the French Première Division. Nicknamed ''Panagol'', he then played in Spain's '' Primera División'' with Real Oviedo for three seasons and with Málaga for another three, where he became the most prolific goal scorer in Málaga's history in '' Primera División'', before returning to

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

. He finished out his career in 2006 after playing two seasons with Panamanian club Arabe Unido.

International career

Dely Valdés made his debut for

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

in a May

1991 UNCAF Nations Cup The 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup was the inaugural UNCAF Nations Cup, the Central American championship for men's national association football teams. It was organized by the ''Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol'' or UNCAF, and it took place in Costa R ...

match against Honduras and earned a total of 44 caps, scoring 18 goals. He represented his country in 27 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and was a member of the

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the eighth edition of the Gold Cup, the football championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was contested in the United States in July 2005. The United States emerged victorious ...

team, who finished second in the tournament, losing the final against USA in the penalty shootout. He also played at the 2001 and

2003 UNCAF Nations Cup The 2003 UNCAF Nations Cup was an association football tournament. It was held in two venues in Panama in February 2003, and was played in a round robin tournament, each of the 6 teams playing each other once. Costa Rica won their record fourt ...

s. Both he and his twin brother announced their international retirement in November 2004, but they both returned for a final Gold Cup tournament and World Cup qualification matches in 2005. His final international was an October 2005 FIFA World Cup qualification 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 territori ...

, just as his twin brother Jorge.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Panama's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dely Valdés goal.''

Managerial career

Dely Valdés became a coach after his playing career ended. He signed with his former team, Málaga, as an assistant manager for head coach

Antonio Tapia Antonio Tapia Flores (born 13 November 1959) is a Spanish football manager. Career Born in Baena, Córdoba, Tapia had an unassuming career as a footballer, only representing Atlético Malagueño and amateurs UD Fuengirola. Still not in hi ...

. He left the club on June 16, 2010, after the arrival of new

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

i owner

Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Ahmed Al Thani Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Ahmed Al Thani ( ar, الشيخ عبد الله بن ناصر بن عبد الله الأحمد آل ثاني) is a Qatari businessman. He is from the Qatari ruling family and a distant relative of ...

. The entire team and staff was rebuilt, and Dely Valdés did not have a contract. On September 14, 2010, Dely Valdés became head coach of the

Panama national football team The Panama national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Panamá) represents Panama in men's international football and is governed by the Panamanian Football Federation. The team represents all three FIFA, CONCACAF and the regional U ...

. He became coach after

FEPAFUT The Panamanian Football Federation ( es, Federación Panameña de Fútbol), known as FEPAFUT, is the official governing body of football in Panama and is in charge of the Panama national football team. FEPAFUT was a founding member of CONCACAF ...

chose him over the Colombian Luis Fernando Suarez. He had a contract for 10 months to coach the national team for the

Copa Centroamericana The Copa Centroamericana (, Spanish for "Central American Cup") was the main association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ''Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol'' ( UNCAF), the sport's Central A ...

and the

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

. The contract had an option to be extended to include the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He appointed twin brother Jorge as his assistant. They led Panama to the final round of World Cup qualifying, but ultimately fell short. After failing to qualify for the World Cup, the Dely Valdés brothers did not continue managing Panama. Julio was put in charge at Árabe Unido in August 2014 and was announced as the manager at Águila in El Salvador on December 31, 2014.

Honours

Nacional * Primera División Uruguaya: 1992 Paris Saint-Germain *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

: 1995–96 Malaga *UEFA Intertoto Cup: UEFA Intertoto Cup 2002, 2002

Individual

*IFFHS World Team#All-time Men's Dream Team (2021), IFFHS CONCACAF Men's Team of All Time: 2021

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dely Valdes, Julio 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Colón, Panama Panamanian twins Twin sportspeople Association football forwards Panamanian footballers Panama international footballers 2001 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2003 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Deportivo Paraguayo footballers Club Nacional de Football players Uruguayan Primera División players Cagliari Calcio players Serie A players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Ligue 1 players Real Oviedo players Málaga CF players La Liga players C.D. Árabe Unido players Panamanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Uruguay Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Spain Panamanian football managers Panama national football team managers 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup managers C.D. Águila managers 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup managers