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 lea ...

who played as a defender.

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

and continued to be one of the top defenders in Colombia.

United States

On 20 January 2011, Valdés officially joined

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

side

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

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 Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

. In Week 7 of the season, Valdés was named to the MLS Team of the Week for his performance against the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

. On 5 August 2011, the Union announced that it had secured the full rights to Valdes from his former club,

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 is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División, the first tier of the Argentine foot ...

of the Primera Division Argentina 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 ri ...

before being loaned to

Club Nacional de Football Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'') is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in La Blanqueada, La Blanqueada, Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' an ...

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 squad at the 2005

South American Youth Championship South American Youth Championships may refer to: * South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American foo ...

, 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 Worl ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. 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.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

América de Cali *

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a professional association football league in Colombia and the highest level of the Colombian ...

: 2008-II Independiente Santa Fe *

Copa Colombia The Copa Colombia (); officially known as Copa BetPlay Dimayor is an annual football tournament in Colombia. It is contested by the 36 professional clubs affiliated to the División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano (DIMAYOR) and is the ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Superliga Colombiana The Superliga Colombiana (''Colombian Superleague''), officially known as Superliga BetPlay Dimayor due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is an official competition contested between the winners of the Apertura and Finalización t ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

San Lorenzo *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Individual * Major League Soccer All-Star Team:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

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 21st-century Colombian sportsmen 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 Copa Libertadores–winning players