Ulises Hernán de la Cruz Bernardo (born 8 February 1974 in Piquiucho, Carchi) is a retired

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: ' ...

ian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

er, who since 2013 has been a member of his country's National Assembly for the governing

PAIS Alliance PAIS Alliance is a centre-left social democratic political party in Ecuador. In 2016, it had 979,691 members. Founded by Rafael Correa in April 2006, the party soon found success amid the "pink tide" period in Latin America. The party's early pe ...

. A defender, he played 101 times for the

Ecuador national football team The Ecuador national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Ecuador) represents Ecuador in men's international football and is controlled by the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF). They joined FIFA in 1926 and CONMEBOL a year later. D ...

between 1995 and 2010, and was selected for two

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 ...

tournaments. He spent his club career at

Deportivo Quito Sociedad Deportivo Quito is an Ecuadorian non-professional club football club based in Quito. For most of its existence, it competed in Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. And currently competes in the Segu ...

, Barcelona S.C.,

Aucas The Huaorani, Waorani, or Waodani, also known as the Waos, are an Indigenous people from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador ( Napo, Orellana, and Pastaza Provinces) who have marked differences from other ethnic groups from Ecuador. The alternate ...

, Cruzeiro, Hibernian,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. De la Cruz has set up a charity, Friends of FundeCruz, in his home village to fund a number of projects serving the local community.

Club career

Early career

De la Cruz's first team was the Ecuadorian side

Sociedad Deportivo Quito Sociedad Deportivo Quito is an Ecuadorian non-professional club football club based in Quito. For most of its existence, it competed in Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. And currently competes in the Segun ...

, for whom he started playing at the age of 16 in the junior division and later the professional division. Nonetheless, De la Cruz's breakthrough season was with LDU Quito in 1998. He scored three goals in the final against Emelec (7–0).

Hibernian

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for ...

, the manager of

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

club Hibernian, watched de la Cruz play in international matches for Ecuador, and then signed him in June 2001 for a club record fee of £700,000. De la Cruz scored two goals for Hibs, both coming in an

Edinburgh derby The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any football match played between Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian (Hibs), the two oldest professional clubs based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The two clubs have a fierce ...

match against Hibs' local rivals Hearts.De La Cruz's double hit
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 22 October 2001. He only played for Hibs in one season before he was sold after de la Cruz played in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. De la Cruz said before the tournament that he wanted to use the World Cup as a showcase, desiring a move to Spain or Italy.

Aston Villa

De la Cruz was signed by

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln C ...

for

ahead of the 2002–03 season. He previously made hints of leaving the club, feeling that joining Aston Villa is one of the highlights of his career LDU Quito claimed that Hibernian failed to pay them a sell-on fee, but this was settled by agreement. Having made his debut, De la Cruz expressed his delight, playing in the Premier League and soon became a fan favourite at Aston Villa In his first season at the club, he played 24 times, scoring one league goal, against Charlton Athletic. He featured more in the 2003–04 season after

David O'Leary David Anthony O'Leary (born 2 May 1958) is a football manager and former player. His managerial career began at Leeds United, subsequently managing Aston Villa. He most recently worked as the manager of Al-Ahli Dubai. The majority of his 20-yea ...

took over, and an injury to Mark Delaney ensured that de la Cruz could start more games than he had previously, and he signed a new contract for the 2004–05 campaign. During his third season with Aston Villa, de la Cruz became frustrated at his lack of first team opportunities and accused O'Leary of blocking transfers for him.

Reading

On 25 August 2006, he signed a one-year deal with

on a free transfer. De la Cruz scored his first Reading goal against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in a 3–1 win on 20 January 2007. After an impressive first season with Reading, he was offered a contract that would tie him to the

Madejski Stadium The Madejski Stadium (currently known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a Association football, football stadium in Reading, Berkshire, Reading. It is the home of Reading F.C., Reading Football Club, who play in the E ...

for two more years. Following their relegation from the Premier League, Reading announced on 16 May 2008 that he would not be offered a new contract.

Birmingham City

After a few weeks' training with the club, de la Cruz signed a one-month contract with

of the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

in March 2009. The player was initially given squad number 27, previously allocated to Krystian Pearce who had been loaned out for the season; however

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

ruled that the number could not be re-used and De la Cruz was given number 36 instead. He made his Birmingham debut as a second-half substitute in the 2–0 win away at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

on 14 March. When his contract expired, the player chose not to accept the offer of an extension until the end of the season.

LDU Quito

Following his release, de la Cruz returned to Ecuador to play for

FIFA World Club Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 2000 ...

runner-up LDU Quito, his third spell at the club. De la Cruz played in both

2009 Recopa Sudamericana The 2009 Recopa Sudamericana was the 17th Recopa Sudamericana, an annual football match between the winners of the previous season's Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana competitions. The match was contested by Ecuadorian club LDU Quito, the 2 ...

matches against Sport Club Internacional de

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...

. LDU Quito won the Recopa giving Ulises his first international title.

Retirement

In February 2013, de la Cruz announced he would retire from football and devote his time to politics in Ecuador. De la Cruz was given a farewell match.

International career

Although not always a first choice for his club, he remained an important member of the

. De la Cruz won 101 caps for his country, between May 1995 and May 2010. He was a fixture in the Ecuador team in 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 ...

which reached the second round. In his homeland, de la Cruz is one of Ecuador's most popular players, both for his footballing talent and his charitable projects. The Supporters' Trust at Reading (''STAR'') organised a facility to allow supporters the means to donate to the Ulises de la Cruz Foundation. Due to

's poor start in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, de la Cruz and his teammate, Ivan Hurtado sharply criticised the coach and the atmosphere in the team. As a result, they were excluded from selection for the last two matches of 2007 against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to t ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

Charitable work

Born in Piquiucho, a small village in the Valle del Chota, one of Ecuador's poorest regions, De la Cruz set up the charity Friends of FundeCruz to fund a number of projects serving the local community, to which he donates about 10% of his salary. Friends of FundeCruz is also a British

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

. At one of the Reading matches, fans were asked to donate money to his fund and he raised a few thousand pounds. Money would also be raised at the Ruta del Sol in February 2008. The foundation funds amongst other things a water treatment plant, a health centre and a sports ground. De la Cruz has been named a

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to c ...

ambassador.

Honors

Club

;

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 ...

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

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 ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club football competition organized by ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

Nation

;

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true worl ...

Political career

In the Ecuadorian general election of 2013 De la Cruz was chosen as member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

for

Carchi Province Carchi () is a province in Ecuador. The capital is Tulcán. The Carchi River rises on the slopes of Chiles volcano and forms the boundary between Colombia and Ecuador near Tulcan. Rumichaca Bridge is the most important land route between Colom ...

. De la Cruz serves as member of

Agustín Delgado Agustín Javier Delgado Chalá (born 23 December 1974) is an Ecuadorian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Nicknamed ''Tín'', he was the all-time top scorer for the Ecuador national team with 31 goals in 71 games befor ...

and

Iván Hurtado Iván Jacinto Hurtado Angulo (born 16 August 1974) is an Ecuadorian politician and former professional footballer who played as a centre back. With 168 international appearances for Ecuador between 1992 and 2014, he was the most capped South A ...

, former team-mates of De la Cruz for the national team, also serve for the PAIS Alliance in the National Assembly.

References

External links

International statistics
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

* * *
Video

FEF Player Card
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Ulises de la 1974 births Living people People from Carchi Province Association football defenders Ecuadorian footballers Ecuador international footballers 1997 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players 2001 Copa América players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2004 Copa América players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 Copa América players S.D. Quito footballers Barcelona S.C. footballers S.D. Aucas footballers L.D.U. Quito footballers Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Hibernian F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Reading F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Ecuadorian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in England Ecuadorian Serie A players Scottish Premier League players Premier League players English Football League players FIFA Century Club Humanitarians Members of the second National Assembly (Ecuador) PAIS Alliance politicians Ecuadorian sportsperson-politicians Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in England