Cristian Higuita (born 12 January 1994) is a Colombian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Atlético Junior Club Deportivo Popular Junior F.C. S.A. (), commonly known as Junior de Barranquilla, by its old name Atlético Junior or simply as Junior, is a Colombian professional football team based in Barranquilla, capital of the department of Atlantic ...

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 ...

Club career

Deportivo Cali

Higuita made his debut with

Deportivo Cali Asociación Deportivo Cali, best known as Deportivo Cali, is a Colombian sports club based in Cali, most notable for its football team, which currently competes in the Categoría Primera A. Deportivo Cali is one of the most successful football t ...

in 2009. A year later, he played a minor part in Cali's campaign winning the 2010 Copa Colombia. In 2011, he made his debut for Cali in

and during the 2014 season helped the club capture the

2014 Superliga Colombiana The 2014 Superliga Colombiana was the third edition of the Superliga Colombiana. Deportivo Cali was the winner and qualified for the 2014 Copa Sudamericana. Teams Since Atlético Nacional won both the Apertura and Finalización, Deportivo Cali ...

Orlando City

In January 2015 it was reported that

Orlando City SC Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...

would be signing Higuita along with his Deportivo Cali teammate Carlos Rivas. He started the team's first ever

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional 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 sanctioned by the United ...

game, a 1–1 draw at home to fellow new expansion side

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on 8 March. On 1 August 2015, Higuita scored his first goal for the team in a 5–2 win at home to

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

. Higuita finished the 2015 season with 4.3 tackles per game and a passing success rate of 87.1 percent. On 6 August 2016, in order to regain match fitness, Higuita was loaned to

Orlando City B Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at ...

for their match against

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, that competes in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as we ...

. In September 2016, Higuita was ranked #21 on the MLSSoccer.com ranking of the top 24 players under 24 years of age. Higuita was one of Orlando City's protected players for the 2016 MLS Expansion Draft. Prior to the beginning of the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, Higuita was presented with a commemorative plaque in honor of his 100 appearances with Orlando City across MLS, US Open Cup and international friendlies (namely against Ponte Preta,

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

). Higuita's contract expired at the end of the

. He departed as the club's leading appearance maker with 108 across all competitions.

Atlético Junior

On 17 December 2019, Higuita returned to Colombia to sign with

International career

Higuita was called up to represent the Colombia U20s at the 2013 South American Youth Football Championship. Higuita made one appearance in the tournament, coming on as a half-time substitute in a 2–1 group stage defeat to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Colombia went on to win the tournament. Higuita was named in Colombia's provisional squad for

Copa América Centenario The Copa América Centenario (, , ; literally ''Centennial America Cup'') was an international men's soccer tournament that was hosted by the United States in 2016. The competition was a celebration of the centennial of CONMEBOL and the Copa Am� ...

in 2016 but was cut from the final squad.

Personal

Higuita holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Career statistics

Club

Honors

Club

;Deportivo Cali *

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 ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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 ...

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 ...

National Team

;Colombia *

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 ...

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 ...

References

External links

* *
Cristian Higuita at Football.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higuita, Cristian 1994 births Living people Colombian men's footballers Colombian expatriate men's footballers Deportivo Cali footballers Atlético Junior footballers Orlando City SC players Orlando City B players Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Categoría Primera A players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players Colombia men's under-20 international footballers 21st-century Colombian sportsmen Colombian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers from Cali