Alberto Abdiel Quintero Medina (born 18 December 1987) is a Panamanian 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 plays for C.D. Plaza Amador and the Panama national team as a winger.

Club career

Early years and Spain

Nicknamed ''Negrito'', Quintero was born in

Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

. After beginning in his country with

Chorrillo F.C. Club Deportivo Universitario (formerly Chorrillo F.C.) is a Panamanian football team playing in the Liga Panameña de Fútbol, the highest level of football in Panama. It is based in Penonomé, Coclé Province, and is the first Panamanian team ...

he moved to Spain in the summer of 2008, playing amateur football with Torrellano CF in

Elche Elche (, ; , , , ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2024's data, Elche has a population of 234,800 inhabitants,

. He became a key player for the team, which achieved promotion to the Spanish Third Division. After a sole season, Quintero joined

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 sp ...

, three levels above his previous and just returned to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. Since he had arrived in Spain with a tourist visa, which expired after three months, he resided illegally in the country for almost a year before regularizing his residence status with the help of Cartagena. He struggled tremendously while adjusting to his new team, namely in an incident at

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

on 27 September 2009 (0–0 draw) where he was subjected to constant racist abuse by the opposing fans. His debut in the competition took place on 5 September, coming on as a late substitute in a 2–0 home win against

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

. In 2010, he signed with

Ontinyent CF Ontinyent Club de Fútbol was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Ontinyent, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia. Founded in 1947 it held home games at ''Estadio El Clariano'', with a capacity ...

of the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

, for the 2010-11 season. In 2011, after one season with Ontinyent, Quintero returned to his country and Chorrillo.

Mexico

Following a successful campaign for Panama at the

2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 12th CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 22nd CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's fifty years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition began on July 7, 2013, at the ...

, Quintero caught the attention of C.F. Pachuca, who was due to sign him in August 2013. Nothing came of it, but he moved to another club in Mexico,

Ascenso MX Ascenso MX, also known as Ascenso BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, was a professional association football league in Mexico and the second level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Primera División A de México (1994–2009 ...

Lobos BUAP Club de Fútbol Lobos de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla were a Mexican football club based in Puebla, Mexico. The club represented the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. The club's history goes back to the early 1930s ...

. After one season at BUAP, Quintero was signed by C.F. Mérida and then moved to

Mineros de Zacatecas Club Deportivo Mineros de Zacatecas, simply known as Mineros de Zacatecas, is a Mexican professional football club based in Zacatecas, that competes in Liga de Expansión MX, the second level division of Mexican football. Founded in 2014, after ...

, followed by a return to BUAP in January 2015. Eleven months later, he was loaned to

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 ...

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 ...

, scoring two of their three goals on 12 May in the 3–1 home victory over

Houston Dynamo FC Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Established on Decembe ...

. Quintero joined

Peruvian Primera División The Peru First Division (; known simply as ''First Division'', and Liga 1 Te Apuesto for sponsorship reasons), officially known as Liga 1, is the top flight of association football in Peru. It has been referred to as Torneo Descentralizado since ...

side

Club Universitario de Deportes Club Universitario de Deportes is a Peruvian sports club based in Lima, which has Association football, soccer as its main activity. It also has women's football, volleyball and basketball sections. The football team, popularly known as Universi ...

on 30 January 2017. He was initially criticized by the team's supporters for not being fit for playing; however, after the arrival of manager

Pedro Troglio Pedro Antonio Troglio (born 28 July 1965) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of Banfield. Playing career During his career as a footballer, Troglio played for River Plate ...

, Quintero became one of the club's players who stood out the most, scoring a career-best 13 goals in his first season.

International career

Quintero was part of the

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

squad that participated in the

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the scor ...

in Canada. He made his full debut that same year, in a friendly against

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. Quintero represented his country in 14

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches, and was selected for the

, helping the ''Canaleros'' to finish second in the United States. He was also picked for the following edition, scoring in the group stage opener against

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

(1–1). In May 2018, Quintero was named in Panama's final 23-man squad for the upcoming edition of the

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 ...

in Russia. On 6 June, however, he suffered a fractured foot in a friendly with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

after a collision with Bjørn Johnsen, thus being ruled out of the tournament and replaced by

Ricardo Ávila Ricardo Guardia Ávila (born 4 February 1997) is a Panamanian Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for UMECIT FC, and the Panama national football team, Panama national team. Club career Born in Panama City, Ávila started ...

. On 5 September 2019, Quintero played his 100th match against

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Panama's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Quintero goal.''

Honours

Panama *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

runner-up:

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 ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

; third place:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Quintero, Alberto 1987 births Living people Panamanian men's footballers 21st-century Panamanian sportsmen Footballers from Panama City Men's association football wingers Liga Panameña de Fútbol players Club Deportivo Universitario players C.D. Plaza Amador players Segunda División players Segunda División B players FC Cartagena footballers Ontinyent CF players Categoría Primera A players Independiente Medellín footballers Lobos BUAP footballers Venados F.C. players Major League Soccer players San Jose Earthquakes players Peruvian Primera División players Club Universitario de Deportes footballers Cienciano footballers Panama men's international footballers 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Copa América Centenario players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup players FIFA Men's Century Club Panamanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Peru Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Peru