Adolfo José Valencia Mosquera (born 6 February 1968) is a Colombian retired

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 striker. Nicknamed ''El tren'' (train) due to his powerful physique, he played in seven countries – having one-year spells in Germany and Spain's top flight – and represented

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

at two World Cups.

Club career

Born in

Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Buenaventura is a coastal seaport city located in the Pacific Region of the department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia (South America). Buenaventura (Spanish for "good fortune") is the main port of Colombia in the Pacific Ocean. As of the 2018 cens ...

, Valencia started playing with

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 ...

, where his stellar performances earned him a transfer to Germany's

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

. In his sole season (although he still played the first game of 1994–95), he was instrumental in helping the

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

ns clinch the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

title, and finished as the team's top scorer alongside

Mehmet Scholl Mehmet Tobias Scholl (born Mehmet Tobias Yüksel; 16 October 1970) is a German Association football, football manager and former player. He played most of his career as an attacking midfielder for FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich. During his care ...

, with 11 goals. Valencia also played one season in Spain, with

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, where he was involved in a serious incident with irascible club president Jesús Gil, while vastly underperforming overall: after a

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

match at

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in '' Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club ha ...

, the latter said that "The black guy needs to have his throat cut". He subsequently went on to represent, without settling at any club, Independiente Santa Fe, América de Cali, A.C. Reggiana 1919, Independiente Medellín,

PAOK FC PAOK FC (, ), short for "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athletic Club of Constantinople, Constantinopolitans" (), and commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki, PAOK Salonika or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional Association football, football cl ...

, NY/NJ MetroStars, Zhejiang Lucheng F.C. and Unión Atlético Maracaibo. While at Zhejiang, Valencia led the Chinese second division in scoring during the 2003 season. In his debut campaign in the

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 ...

, he set a team record by scoring 16 league goals, and retired from football in 2004.

International career

Valencia made his debut for

on 31 July 1992, scoring the only goal in a match against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hal ...

for the Friendship Cup, and proceeded to represent the nation at the

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s. In the former edition he netted twice, in group stage defeats to

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and the United States. Alongside Bernardo Redín, Valencia was Colombia's all-time topscorer in the World Cup. On 5 September 1993, he was one of three players on target in a 5–0 win in

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 ...

for the 1994 World Cup qualifiers.

International goals

''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Valencia's son, José Adolfo, was also a footballer and a striker. He played mostly for Independiente Santa Fe, and represented Colombia at under-20 level.

Honours

Club

Bayern Munich *

: 1993–94 América 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 ...

: 1997 Maracaibo *

Venezuelan Primera División The Primera División (; ), or Liga Venezolana (; ) is the top-flight professional football league of Venezuela. It was created in 1921 and turned professional in 1957. It is organized by the Federación Venezolana de Fútbol. Format Starting i ...

: 2003

Individual

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia, Adolfo 1968 births Living people Footballers from Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Colombian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Categoría Primera A players Independiente Santa Fe footballers América de Cali footballers Bundesliga players FC Bayern Munich footballers La Liga players Atlético Madrid footballers Serie A players AC Reggiana 1919 players Super League Greece players PAOK FC players Major League Soccer players New York Red Bulls players Major League Soccer All-Stars China League One players Zhejiang Professional F.C. players Unión Atlético Maracaibo players Colombia men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1993 Copa América players Colombian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in Venezuela Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Colombian people of African descent 20th-century Colombian sportsmen