Alex Marcel Lund Valencia (born 22 September 1979) is a Norwegian

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 as a right winger for

Åsane Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre. Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on ...

. He has previously played for top-flight clubs in Norway and Denmark. Valencia is of Colombian descent and has been capped for the Norwegian national team in both football and

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

Early life

Valencia is son of the former

Tromsø IL Tromsø Idrettslag () is a Norwegian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Tromsø. They play their home games at the Romssa Arena which has a seating capacity of 6,801. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien. Despi ...

player Arnt Hugo Lund, who played approximately 300 matches between 1964 and 1979. Valencia was born after his father and his Colombian mother moved to

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

to study. He lived in Bergen and played for

for his entire childhood, with the exception of a short stay in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

where he played youth-football for

KIL/Hemne KIL/Hemne is a Association football, football club from Kyrksæterøra in Heim Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. Top-level players Erik Hoftun, Ardian Gashi, Alex Valencia, Vegard Forren, Pål André Helland and Magnus Stamnestrø began ...

. Valencia was known as one of the most talented footballers in

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

and transferred from Åsane to Brann in 1998.

Club career

Valencia made his debut in

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

against

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

on 7 May 1998, and became a regular in

Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson (, born 14 January 1952) is an Icelandic football coach. He is the older brother of Ólafur Þórðarson. Playing career Club Íþróttabandalag Akraness Before coaching, Teitur playing as a striker for nearly two decades. H ...

's team during the 2000 season. He made his break-through the following season and played every match for Brann in Tippeligaen. Valencia was primarily used as a right winger, but was also used occasionally as a striker. After

Mons Ivar Mjelde Mons Ivar Mjelde (born 17 November 1967) is a Norwegian football coach and former player who works as head coach for the Norwegian club Øygarden. He is notable for having led Brann to the Norwegian top division championship in 2007, breaking ...

became head coach of Brann, Valencia lost his spot in the starting line-up and received less playing time. Valencia played a total of 106 matches and scored 12 goals for Brann and moved to the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

side

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

after the 2003 season. When signing for Start, the Director of Sports,

Erik Solér Erik Francisco Solér (born 6 August 1960) is a Norwegian former professional footballer, a former football agent, and former General Manager and Sporting Director of New York Red Bulls as well as a football commentator for Champions League and ...

stated that Valencia had the potential to play for the Norwegian national team. Start won promotion to Tippeligaen with

Tom Nordlie Tom Nordlie (born 2 March 1962) is a Norwegian football coach. He has managed several top Norwegian football teams. Playing career Nordlie was not a footballer himself, but he did play for the national water polo team. He has his education from ...

as head coach in Valencia's first season with the club, and the following season the newly promoted side finished second in the

2005 Tippeligaen The 2005 Tippeligaen was the 61st completed season of top division association football, football in Norway. The season began on 10 April 2005, and was concluded with the last of 26 rounds played on 29 October. 3 points were given for wins and 1 f ...

. Valencia was one of the biggest contributors to the surprising silver medals, and the right winger was named "Player of the Year" in Tippeligaen by ''

Fædrelandsvennen is a regional newspaper based in Kristiansand, Norway. It covers the southernmost part of the country, (Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder), focusing especially on the area between Mandal, Norway, Mandal and Lillesand (west and east of Kristiansand). ...

'', ''

Nettavisen ''Nettavisen'' is a Norway, Norwegian online newspaper, launched in 1996 as the first online-only newspaper in Norway. The current editor is Gunnar Stavrum. As of 2015, it was one of Norway's most popular news websites. History The online newspa ...

'' and ''

Verdens Gang (), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norway, Norwegian Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, declining from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. Nevertheless, ''VG'' is ...

''. Valencia scored a total of 11 goals in 77 league-matches for Start, and moved to the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

side

AGF Aarhus Aarhus Gymnastikforening (; commonly known as AGF ) is a professional sports club based in Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1880, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country where gymnastics and fencing were featured as its main sports. How ...

in July 2007. Valencia's spell in Denmark was not a success, and he was named the third worst signing in the

2007–08 Danish Superliga The 2007–08 Danish Superliga season was the 18th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, which determined the winners of the Danish football championship. It was governed by the Danish Football Association. It started with the first ...

by ''

Ekstrabladet is a Danish tabloid newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen.About
(in Danish) . Retrieved 22 Sep ...

'' in October 2007. He only played 90 minutes for AGF twice, and scored a total of 2 goals in 23 matches for the club, before he returned Norway where he joined the First Division side

Odd Grenland Odds Ballklubb, commonly known as Odd, is a Norwegian professional football club from Skien. Originally the football section of a multi-sports club, founded in 1894 nine years after the club's founding. Most sports other than football and gymnast ...

in August 2008. Valencia never became a regular in Odd's team, and was sold to

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

in August 2009, where he was reunited with the head coach from Start, Tom Nordlie. Valencia played for Fredrikstad until the end of the 2012 season when his contract expired, and the club who had been relegated to the second tier did not want to renew his contract. Valencia returned to his youth-club Åsane ahead of the 2013 season, and got a job as a car-salesman in addition to playing for the team in the 2. divisjon.

International career

Valencia first represented Norway when he played one match for the under-15 team in 1995. He played four matches and scored two goals for the under-17 team in 1997, before he represented the under-21 team in 2001 where he scored two goals in eight appearances. Valencia made his debut for the Norwegian national team against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in August 2001. The next year he made one appearance for Norway B. Valencia was not called up for the national team until April 2005, when he was included in the squad that met

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

in a friendly match. He was capped twice in both 2005 and 2006, and earned a total of five caps for Norway.

Futsal career

Valencia has also played

, and was included in Norwegian national futsal team's first squad in 2003, along with other

players like

Kristofer Hæstad Kristofer Krüger Hæstad (born 9 December 1983) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Early life Hæstad was born in Kristiansand, Agder. Club career Early career Hæstad played for the youth teams of Rande ...

Fredrik Strømstad Fredrik Strømstad (born 20 January 1982) is a Norwegian football player. Career In 2002, he was loaned to Bærum SK and helped them win promotion to the Norwegian First Division. He signed for the French club Le Mans Union Club 72 on June 13 ...

and Espen Edvardsen. Valencia scored one of the goals in the 7–5 victory against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in the 2003 Futsal World Cup, which was Norway's first victory in an international futsal tournament.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia, Alex 1979 births Living people Footballers from Bergen Norwegian people of Colombian descent Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's international footballers Åsane Fotball players SK Brann players IK Start players Aarhus Gymnastikforening players Odds BK players Fredrikstad FK players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Danish Superliga players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Men's association football wingers Norwegian men's futsal players