John Stefan Medina Ramírez (born 14 June 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 Liga MX club Monterrey and the Colombia national team. Initially, Medina debuted for

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 ...

as a centre-back. As time progressed, he has shown to be comfortable playing as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and on some occasions 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 boundari ...

Club career

Atlético Nacional

A youth product of Nacional's academy, Medina played as a starter in the youth squad for one season before making his senior debut in 2011. Eventually, he gained a spot in the senior squad in 2012 after making occasional appearances. He was given the number 2 shirt in tribute to the late

Andrés Escobar Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga (; 13 March 1967 – 2 July 1994) was a Colombian footballer who played as a defender. He played for Atlético Nacional, BSC Young Boys, and the Colombia national team. Nicknamed ''The Gentleman'', he was known ...

who also wore the same shirt, mostly because he's managed to avoid committing fouls as a defender by making good challenges. He has been liken to the late Nacional legend because of this. Medina finished his career with Nacional in 2014, winning 6 domestic trophies over the course of 4 seasons.

Monterrey

On 30 May 2014 the Mexican club Monterrey confirmed the signing of Stefan Medina for the fee of $4,200,000. He made his debut against Leones Negros, stating that while he was pleased with his debut, he still needed more time to fully adapt to Mexican football. He was a regular starter for the team throughout the entire 2014-15 season and was named in the team's starting lineup for the inaugural game at the BBVA Bancomer stadium, although throughout the Apertura 2015 his performance was frequently criticized and he was eventually benched by 18-year old rookie Cesar Montes in the centre-back position.

Pachuca

On 28 November 2015, Rayados de Monterrey announced that Medina had been transferred to

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 ...

on a season-long deal, in exchange for Miguel Ángel Herrera. He made his debut for Pachuca on 9 January 2016 playing 90 minutes in a draw 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 ...

. He won the league title in May 2016 after Pachuca defeated his former club Monterrey 2–1 on aggregate, he was a starter throughout the entire season and was regularly deployed as a right-back, his loan was extended for the entire 2016-17 season during which he won the

2016-17 CONCACAF Champions League 16-17 is a band from Basel, Switzerland. Their music combines punk rock, hardcore punk, jazz and industrial music. Biography 16-17 was founded in 1983 by Alex Buess, Knut Remond and Markus Kneubühler. When the group played its first co ...

in April 2017 against

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Found ...

, playing as a substitute in both games at the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Return to Monterrey

On June 7, 2017, it was announced that his loan with Pachuca was terminated and he returned to Monterrey, with Cesar Montes, Nicolas Sanchez and Jose Maria Basanta all part of the center back position he was positioned in the right–back role. He was an integral part of the team as the starting right–back as they reached the finals of the Apertura 2017 league tournament losing to cross–town rivals

, and winning the Apertura 2017 cup against former team Pachuca. In 2019 with the arrival of

Miguel Layún Miguel Arturo Layún Prado (born 25 June 1988) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Liga MX club América. Layún began his career in 2006 with Veracruz, and in 2009 signed for Italian club Atalanta, becoming the ...

he was again moved to the centre-back position and excelled at the role, playing a vital role in the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League title win against Tigres UANL.

International career

Medina has been called up by the youth national squads on numerous occasions. In 2009, he was part of the team that finished fourth in the

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

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 ...

, appearing in two matches. He earned his first cap for Colombia on 10 September 2013 against

Uruguay 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 ...

. Medina was regularly called on to the squad after his second cap, but suffered an ankle injury on April 24, 2014, thus forcing him to miss out on the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Medina wasn't called up for the squad again until early 2015, in a friendly against

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and

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 ...

, where he played in Colombia's 6–0 victory against Bahrain. In May 2018 he was named in Colombia's preliminary 35 man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

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

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. However, he did not make the final cut to 23. He was included in the final cut of the 23-man list for the 2019 Copa America.

Honours

Atlético Nacional *

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor (between 2015 and 2019 ''Liga Águila'') due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a Colombian professional league for association football clubs. It is the ...

: 2011-I, 2013-I, 2013-II, 2014-I *

Copa Colombia The Copa Colombia ( en, Colombia Cup, link=yes); officially known as Copa BetPlay Dimayor is an annual football tournament in Colombia. It is contested by the 36 professional clubs of DIMAYOR and is the nation's domestic cup competition, equiva ...

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 ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

* Superliga Colombiana: 2012 Pachuca * Liga MX: Clausura 2016 *

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

: 2016–17 Monterrey * Liga MX: Apertura 2019 *

Copa MX The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican football cup competition that was established in 1907. After a lengthy hiatus that began in 1997, it wa ...

: Apertura 2017, 2019–20 *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual * Liga MX Best XI: Apertura 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medina, Stefan 1992 births Living people Colombian footballers Atlético Nacional footballers C.F. Monterrey players C.F. Pachuca players Categoría Primera A players Liga MX players Colombian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Mexico Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Colombia men's international footballers Colombia men's youth international footballers Copa América Centenario players 2019 Copa América players 2021 Copa América players People from Envigado Men's association football defenders Sportspeople from Antioquia Department