Jimmy Bermúdez Valencia (born 16 December 1987) is a 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. Mainly a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, he also operated as a full-back. Formed at

Boca Juniors de Cali Boca Juniors de Cali is a professional football club which represented the Colombian city of Cali from its creation in 1937 until its exit from professional football in 1957 and again from 2019 onwards competing in the Categoría Primera B, the ...

, Bermúdez joined Colombian giants

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the other ...

and was loaned to

Alianza Petrolera Alianza Petrolera Fútbol Club was a Colombian professional football team based in Barrancabermeja, Santander, that last played in the Categoría Primera A. The club was founded in 1991 and played in the Categoría Primera B until 2012. They play ...

in the

Categoría Primera B Categoría Primera B, commonly referred to as Torneo BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is the second-division association football, football league in Colombia. The tournament was inaugura ...

, where he began his professional career. After a second loan, this time to

Atlético Bucaramanga Club Atlético Bucaramanga S.A., better known as Atlético Bucaramanga, is a Colombian professional football team based in Bucaramanga. The club plays its home games at the Américo Montanini stadium. The club was founded on 11 May 1949 by Rafa ...

in the

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 ...

, he was able to play with

, winning Categoría Primera A. He later played for other Colombian clubs and for sides in Ecuador, Mexico and Equatorial Guinea. Born and raised in Colombia to Colombian parents, Bermúdez officially played for the Colombia national under-20 team. He later appeared with the Equatorial Guinea national team, after people from the Central African nation liked of some of his football highlights on

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and contacted him via his

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fanpage.

Club career

He played for LDU Loja in two editions of

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

(

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and

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 ...

International career

Baermúdez was a starter for Colombia in the

2007 South American U-20 Championship The 2007 South American Youth Championship (Sudamericano Sub-20) was the 23rd edition of the competition. It was played in Paraguay between 7 and 28 January 2007, and was contested by all ten U-20 national football teams of CONMEBOL. This was the ...

. In May 2013, Bermúdez was purchased by the Equatoguinean football team, which then he began to represent, received Equatoguinean citizenship and getting

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3,000 for each match played.

International goal

:''Scores and results list Equatorial Guinea's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bermúdez goal.''

Controversy about eligibility

Bermúdez recognizes that he is not of Equatorial Guinean descent, but considers he can represent the African country as he has not played for Colombia at senior level. According to FIFA's rules, footballers should be holders of the second nationality at the time of playing youth international matches with the original country. This rule has already been applied in the similar case of Portuguese-based Brazilian footballer

Fernando Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, and former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa and Asia (like the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka). It is e ...

. Additionally, when Bermúdez made his international debut with Equatorial Guinea, on 8 June 2013, he had spent his entire club career in Colombia and Ecuador. This aspect violated, thus, the condition D of the relevant current FIFA statute about the eligibility of a player, ''Article 17: Acquisition of a new nationality'', which says: «He has lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant Association». Bermúdez was never punished by any of these two situations.

References

External links

* * 1987 births Living people Footballers from Cauca Department Colombian men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Boca Juniors de Cali footballers Atlético Nacional footballers Alianza Petrolera F.C. players Atlético Bucaramanga footballers Envigado F.C. players Atlético Huila footballers L.D.U. Loja footballers Atlante F.C. footballers Águilas Doradas players Atlético Cali footballers C.D. Olmedo footballers Categoría Primera B players Categoría Primera A players Ecuadorian Serie A players Ascenso MX players Colombia men's youth international footballers Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Colombian expatriates in Equatorial Guinea Expatriate men's footballers in Equatorial Guinea Naturalized citizens of Equatorial Guinea Equatoguinean men's footballers Leones Vegetarianos FC players Equatorial Guinea men's international footballers Naturalised association football players Equatoguinean people of Colombian descent 21st-century Colombian sportsmen {{Colombia-footy-defender-stub