Carlos Enrique Valdés Parra (born 22 May 1985) is a Colombian 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 ...

Club career

Colombia

Valdés began his career in 2005 with

Real Cartagena Real Cartagena is a professional Colombian football team based in Cartagena, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. They play their home games at the Jaime Morón León stadium. History The origins of Real Cartagena date back to 197 ...

and appeared in 33 league matches. After impressing with Cartagena, Valdés joined storied Colombian club América de Cali the following campaign and was a stalwart in defense for the club for four years, where he appeared in 97 matches and scored 4 goals. In 2009, he joined Independiente Santa Fe and continued to be one of the top defenders in Colombia.

United States

On 20 January 2011, Valdés officially joined Major League Soccer side Philadelphia Union on a one-year loan deal. He made his debut for the Union on 19 March 2011, in the team's season opener for the 2011 MLS season, a 1–0 victory over Houston Dynamo. In Week 7 of the season, Valdés was named to the MLS Team of the Week for his performance against the San Jose Earthquakes. On 5 August 2011, the Union announced that it had secured the full rights to Valdes from his former club, Independiente Santa Fe of the Colombian First Division.

Loans

Seeking to increase his national team prospects, Valdés returned to Santa Fe on loan in 2013 and later joined

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, commonly known as San Lorenzo de Almagro or simply San Lorenzo (in English: ''Saint Lawrence''), is a sports club of Argentina in the Boedo district of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team ...

of the

Primera Division Argentina Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Alí Rafael Primera Rosel ...

on another loan He briefly returned to Philadelphia following the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

before being loaned 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 ...

of Uruguay in 2015. He and Philadelphia terminated his deal in 2015.

Atlético Socopó

In 2017, after a year-long injury, Valdés is signed by Venezuelan club Atlético Socopó, who is going to play in the first division for the first time.

International career

Valdés played with the

Colombia U-20 The Colombia national under-20 football team represents Colombia in international under-20 football competitions and is overseen by the Colombian Football Federation. The team's most notable performance in the FIFA U-20 World Cup was in 2003 ...

squad at the 2005

South American Youth Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as U-20 South American Championship and es, Torneo Juventudes de América, "Campeonato Sudamericano Sub 20" or pt, Juventude da América (English: "America's Youth") is a South American f ...

, which Colombia hosted and won. He then competed at the

2005 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship was the 15th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It took place in the Netherlands between 10 June and 2 July 2005. Venues Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA Wor ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, helping Colombia to the Round of 16 before losing to the eventual champions,

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 second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. In 2008, he made his debut for the Colombian senior national team. The 13 May 2014 was included by coach Jose Pekerman in the preliminary list of 30 players for the World Cup of 2014.13 14 Finally, he was selected in the final 23-man roster on 2 June.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first.''"Carlos Valdés International Statistics".
Int.soccerway.com Retrieved on 16 July 2014

Honours

Club

América de Cali * Categoría Primera A (1): 2008-II Independiente Santa Fe *

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 ...

(1): 2009 * Superliga Colombiana (1):

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San Lorenzo * Copa Libertadores (1):

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Individual

* Major League Soccer All-Star Team:

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 gat ...

Career statistics

Club

Updated 6 July 2013

International

''Statistics accurate as of 6 June 2015''

References

External links

Official Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valdes, Carlos 1985 births Living people Colombian men's footballers Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombia men's international footballers Colombia men's under-20 international footballers Philadelphia Union players Real Cartagena footballers América de Cali footballers Independiente Santa Fe footballers Club Nacional de Football players San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Categoría Primera A players Argentine Primera División players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay Major League Soccer All-Stars Major League Soccer players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Copa América players Footballers from Cali Men's association football defenders