Sebastián Velásquez (born 11 February 1991) 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 le ...

who currently plays as a

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 ...

for

Memphis 901 Memphis 901 FC is an American professional soccer team based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 2018, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. Stadium The club currently plays on the grounds of AutoZone Park, a baseball stadiu ...

Early life

Velásquez was born in the Colombian city of

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

and moved to the United States at a young age, with his family settling in South Carolina. As a freshman in high school, he was instrumental in winning a state championship with Greenville High School (Greenville, SC), where they also finished the year ranked No. 1 in the nation by NSCAA. At the club level, he played alongside future

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

teammate Enzo Martinez and they won a national championship in 2009. He then played at the junior college level for the Spartanburg Methodist Pioneers in

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...

Career

Velásquez was selected 36th overall in the

2012 MLS SuperDraft The 2012 MLS SuperDraft was the thirteenth annual SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. It was held on January 12, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. (ET). The draft was reduced from three rounds to two with the 19 MLS clubs selecting a total of 38 p ...

. On March 10, 2012, Velásquez made his professional debut in a start for Real Salt Lake against

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

. In the 73rd minute, he provided a cross that was turned into the net by Galaxy defender

Sean Franklin Sean Michael Franklin (born March 21, 1985) is an American former soccer player who played as a defender. Career Youth and amateur Franklin was a three-time letter-winner at Highland High School in Palmdale, California. He was named the Gold ...

and Real went on to win the game 3–1. On November 8, 2013, Velásquez scored his first

MLS 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 ...

goal with a header during the second leg of the 2013 Western Conference semifinals against LA Galaxy. In December 2014, he was traded to

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned ...

in exchange for allocation money. Velásquez was named NYCFC soccer player of the month by the Third Rail Supporters Club in March 2015. On January 15, 2016, Velásquez became the first player to be signed by NASL expansion side

Rayo OKC Rayo OKC, also known as Rayo Oklahoma City, was an American professional soccer team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They joined the North American Soccer League (NASL) – the second tier of the American soccer pyramid – beginning w ...

. He's also the first player to make an appearance on the NYCFC Fan Podcast, on April 1, 2016. A milestone for the podcast. On the January 16th 2019, Velásquez was announced as new player for

K League 2 The K League 2 (Hangul: K리그2) is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the K League 1. Hi ...

team

Suwon FC Suwon FC ( ko, 수원 FC; Hanja: 水原 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based Suwon that competes in the K League 1, the top division of South Korea. They play their home games at Suwon Stadium. History Early years: semi-profe ...

. This was Velásquez's first football experience outside of the United States. After six months at Suwon, he announced in June 2019, that he had left the club and would return to the United States.

Personal life

Velásquez was raised Catholic by his mother but left the Church in 2013 and joined another

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

denomination. His teammates nicknamed him the Colombian

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

. After a

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

at a Walmart in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

in 2019, he helped raise funds for a girls' youth soccer team that was outside the store at the time of the shooting and took time to meet the players afterwards.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Velasquez, Sebastian 1991 births Living people Former Roman Catholics Colombian Christians Footballers from Medellín Colombian footballers Real Salt Lake players New York City FC players Rayo OKC players Real Monarchs players Suwon FC players El Paso Locomotive FC players Miami FC players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Hapoel Umm al-Fahm F.C. players Memphis 901 FC players Soccer players from South Carolina Colombian emigrants to the United States Real Salt Lake draft picks Major League Soccer players North American Soccer League players USL Championship players Israeli Premier League players Spartanburg Methodist Pioneers men's soccer players Sportspeople from Greenville, South Carolina Colombian expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in South Korea Expatriate footballers in Israel Colombian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Colombian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Association football midfielders