Félix Alexander Borja Valencia (born April 2, 1983) is an

Ecuadorian Ecuadorians ( es, ecuatorianos) are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are colle ...

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 last played for El Nacional in the

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 ...

. He is nicknamed the "

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

", or "the cobra of Ecuador", for the spring in his jump. His height makes it easy to score goals for his club and country.

Club career

El Nacional

Felix Borja previously played for El Nacional of

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

Olympiacos

His transfer to Greek league champions

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a numbe ...

made him the first Ecuadorian player to play for a Greek team. Borja was declared

Copa Libertadores de América The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

's joint top goalscorer two months after his transfer to

Mainz 05

Due to his sub-standard performances for Olympiacos in his first season, as well as the fact that he occupies a non-EU player spot at his current team's roster, Olympiacos had the desire at the end of the 2006–07 season to sell him or loan him for the upcoming season. Due to that decision by the club, Borja was loaned out to German club

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the t ...

for the 2007–08 season. At the end of the season, Mainz signed him permanently. During the winter transfer window of the 2010-11 season, Borja was allowed to leave on a free transfer ahead of an expected move to Mexican club

Puebla F.C. Club Puebla, formerly Puebla F.C. is a Mexican professional football club based in the city of Puebla, competing in the Liga MX. Known as ''La Franja'' ("The Striped Ones"), the team shirt features a diagonal stripe (traditionally blue on white ...

Puebla

Having limited success, especially after Mainz earned promotion to the Bundesliga, he transferred to the Mexican club

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

Pachuca

In the 2011–12 Apertaura season, he was transferred to Pachuca F.C.

Loan to Chivas USA

On 14 August 2014, Borja joined

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 ...

team

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. G ...

on loan from

LDU Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria (), often referred to as Liga de Quito, LDU, is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their ho ...

South China

On 28 December 2015, Hong Kong giants

South China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

announced the capture of the player via Facebook.

Return to El Nacional

On 24 January 2017, Felix Borja signed a contract with El Nacional. Previously he was a free agent.

International career

He was included in the

for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

. He played in several of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches for the Ecuador national team, including the game 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 ...

which confirmed their passage to Germany 06. He made one appearance at the tournament against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, where they were defeated 0–3. He featured in friendlies after the

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 ...

, even scoring against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in an October 2006 friendly in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. He was called up to

for the

2007 Copa América The 2007 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, known simply as the 2007 Copa América or 2007 Copa América Venezuela, was the 42nd edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The ...

, and started in the final group game against

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ecuador's goal tally first.''

Career statistics

Honours

Serie A de Ecuador 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, ...

: ** 2005 C,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

: ** 2006–07

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Borja, Felix 1983 births Living people People from San Lorenzo, Ecuador Ecuadorian footballers C.D. El Nacional footballers Olympiacos F.C. players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Club Puebla players C.F. Pachuca players L.D.U. Quito footballers Chivas USA players Mushuc Runa S.C. footballers Real Garcilaso footballers South China AA players Super League Greece players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Liga MX players Major League Soccer players Peruvian Primera División players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2001 Copa América players 2007 Copa América players Association football forwards Ecuador international footballers Ecuadorian expatriate footballers Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Peru Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong