Adolfo José Valencia Mosquera (born 6 February 1968) is a Colombian retired

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, rugb ...

who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''El tren'' (train) due to his powerful physique, he played in seven countries – having one-year spells in Germany and Spain's top flight – and represented

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

at two World Cups.

Club career

Born in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, Valencia started playing with

Independiente Santa Fe Club Independiente Santa Fe, known simply as Santa Fe, is a Colombian professional football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Santa Fe is one of the th ...

, where his stellar performances earned him a transfer to Germany's

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

. In his sole season (although he still played the first game of 1994–95), he was instrumental in helping the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

ns clinch the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

title, and finished as the team's top scorer alongside Mehmet Scholl, with 11 goals. Valencia also played one season in Spain, with

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based i ...

, where he was involved in a serious incident with irascible club president

Jesús Gil Gregorio Jesús Gil y Gil (12 March 1933 – 14 May 2004) was a Spanish businessman and politician. He served as Mayor of Marbella between 1991 and 2002, and presided for a 16-year tenure as president of the football club Atlético de Madrid ...

, while vastly underperforming overall: after a

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

match at

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in '' Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club h ...

, the latter said that "The black guy needs to have his throat cut". He subsequently went on to represent, without settling at any club, Independiente Santa Fe,

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 ...

, A.C. Reggiana 1919, Independiente Medellín,

PAOK FC P.A.O.K. FC ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΟΚ, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών, '' Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstadinoupolitón'', "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athlet ...

, NY/NJ MetroStars, Zhejiang Lucheng F.C. and Unión Atlético Maracaibo. While at Zhejiang, Valencia led the Chinese second division in scoring during the 2003 season. In his debut campaign in the

Major League Soccer 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 Cana ...

, he set a team record by scoring 16 league goals, and retired from football in 2004.

International career

Valencia made his debut for

on 31 July 1992, scoring the only goal in a 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a me ...

for the Friendship Cup, and proceeded to represent the nation at the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

s. In the former edition he netted twice, in group stage defeats to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and the United States. Alongside

Bernardo Redín Bernardo Redín Valverde (born 26 February 1963 in Cali) is a retired Colombian football player. He is the current manager of Cúcuta Deportivo. Playing career Club During the 1980s Bernardo Redin was part of Deportivo Cali's Dinamic Duo with ...

, Valencia was Colombia's all-time topscorer in the World Cup. On 5 September 1993, he was one of three players on target in a 5–0 win in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

for the 1994 World Cup qualifiers.

International goals

''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Valencia's son, José Adolfo, was also a footballer and a striker. He played mostly for Independiente Santa Fe, and represented Colombia at under-20 level.

Honours

Club

Bayern Munich *

: 1993–94 América Cali *

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 th ...

: 1997 Maracaibo * Venezuelan Primera División: 2003

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia, Adolfo 1968 births Living people People from Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Colombian footballers Association football forwards Categoría Primera A players Independiente Santa Fe footballers América de Cali footballers Bundesliga players FC Bayern Munich footballers La Liga players Atlético Madrid footballers Serie A players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players Super League Greece players PAOK FC players Major League Soccer players New York Red Bulls players Major League Soccer All-Stars China League One players Zhejiang Professional F.C. players UA Maracaibo players Colombia international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1993 Copa América players Colombian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in Venezuela Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Colombian people of African descent Sportspeople from Valle del Cauca Department