Antony William de Ávila Charris (born December 21, 1962) is a Colombian former soccer striker nicknamed ''El Pitufo'' ("The

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"), who last played for América de Cali.

Club career

De Ávila began his career with América de Cali in his native Colombia in 1982. He spent the majority of his career with the club, winning seven league titles with América, including five in a row from 1982 to 1986. His 25 goals for América in the 1990 season led all scorers in the Colombian top flight. His time with América also led him to be runner-up in the Copa Libertadores on three occasions in 1985, 1986, and 1996. De Ávila also spent time abroad, playing for

Unión de Santa Fe Club Atlético Unión (; mostly known as Unión de Santa Fe ) is a sports club from Santa Fe, the capital city of the Santa Fe Province, in Argentina. The club was founded on April 15, 1907 and plays in the Argentine Primera División. Althou ...

of Argentina in between spells with América, the MetroStars of Major League Soccer, and Barcelona SC of Ecuador. De Ávila's MLS career spanned a season and a half, as he joined the Metros midway through the 1996 season as a replacement for colossal disappointment Rubén Darío Hernández. With the club playing on AstroTurf for parts of the season, ''El Pitufo'' was surprisingly adept at what was called "

ping-pong Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

soccer". He scored 15 goals and added 11 assists in his time in the league, plus another two goals and an assist in the playoffs. In 1997, De Ávila left the MLS and moved to Ecuador to play for Barcelona de Ecuador. With the club, he reached another Copa Libertadores final but again failed to win, becoming the only player to have lost five Libertadores finals. De Ávila retired in 1999, but returned to competitive football at the age of 46 with América de Cali, eventually finishing his career with a club record 208 goals. His 29 goals in the Copa Libertadores ranked him sixth highest scorer in the history of the tournament.

International career

De Ávila made his senior debut on 26 July 1983. He went on to score 13 goals in 54 appearances for the Colombia national team between 1983 and 1998. He represented his country at two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, in

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; Nelson ...

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 ...

respectively.

Personal life

Nicknamed ''El Pitufo'' ("The

") or ''El Pipa'', he was known as much for his short height of 1.57m (5 ft 3 in) as for his goal-scoring prowess. After retiring, de Ávila bought a farm and he was still living there as of 2020.

Career statistics

''Scores and results list goal tally first.'' :''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each de Ávila goal.''

Honours

América de Cali * Categoría Primera A: 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1992 * Copa Libertadores runner-up:

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, 1996 Barcelona de Ecuador *

Ecuadorian Serie A The Liga Pro Betcris, simply known as the Liga Pro, or the Serie A, is a professional football league in Ecuador. At the top of the Ecuadorian football league system, it is the country's premier football competition. Contested by sixteen clubs, i ...

: 1997 *Copa Libertadores runner-up:

Individual *Categoría Primera A top scorer: 1990 * Copa Libertadores top scorer: 1996

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Avila, Antony de 1962 births Living people Colombian footballers Colombian expatriate footballers Colombia international footballers People from Santa Marta 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players 1991 Copa América players América de Cali footballers New York Red Bulls players Barcelona S.C. footballers Unión de Santa Fe footballers Categoría Primera A players Argentine Primera División players Major League Soccer players Ecuadorian Serie A players Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Ecuador Expatriate soccer players in the United States Association football forwards Sportspeople from Magdalena Department