Edwin Andrés Cardona Bedoya (; born 8 December 1992) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays for Argentine Primera Division club

Racing Club Racing Club may refer to: Football * Racing Club Abidjan, Ivory Coast * K.R.C. Genk, Belgium * Racing Club Bafoussam, Cameroon * Racing Club Beirut, Lebanon * Racing Club de Avellaneda, Argentina * Racing Club Haïtien, Haiti * Racing Club Port ...

and the Colombia national team.

Club career

Colombia

Cardona made his professional debut in 2009 with Atlético Nacional. His performances led him to getting called up for the Colombian under-20 team. He won an Apertura with Nacional in 2011 before being loaned to fellow Colombian Side Santa Fe. During his brief spell with Santa Fe, Cardona won the 2012 Apertura. The following year, Cardona would join Atlético Junior on a year-long loan. In 2014, he was brought back to Atletico Nacional, converting himself to a key player in his first two seasons. During his most prominent time at the club, Cardona went on to dispute the final of the

2014 Copa Sudamericana The 2014 Copa Sudamericana (officially the 2014 Copa Total Sudamericana for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary international club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Lanús were t ...

. Despite losing the final against Argentine club River Plate, he was amongst the best players of the tournament, even earning the best young player award. That same year, Cardona was included in Star XI of the Americas.

Monterrey

On 16 December 2014, Cardona signed for

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

club

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

alongside compatriots

Alexander Mejía Alexander Mejía Sabalza (born 11 July 1988) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Unión Magdalena. He is described by FIFA's official website as "a linchpin noted for his ability to tidy up mistakes, rob possessi ...

and Yimmi Chará. On 18 January 2015, Cardona scored his first goal for ''Los Rayados'', netting against Pachuca for the 2014 Clausura. His first brace would come on 7 March against Toluca. Cardona scored his second brace on 16 August 2015 against Dorados de Sinaloa for the 2015 Apertura. During a match for the 2016 Clausura against Santos Laguna, Cardona was praised for scoring an impressive bicycle kick. Due to this, he was given the nickname "Crackdona" amongst Monterrey fans. The match ended in a 2–1 victory with the first goal for Monterrey being scored by fellow countryman Dorlan Pabón. On match-day 14, Cardona scored a goal against Club Tijuana by chipping it past Argentine keeper

Federico Vilar Federico Vilar Baudena (born 30 May 1977) is an Argentine Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Vilar played the majority of his c ...

. Monterrey ended up winning the match thus helping maintain their spot as leaders. The following 8 April, Cardona netted another brace against Jaguares de Chiapas which earned him the man of the match award.

Boca Juniors

On 18 July 2017, the Colombian international joined Argentine giants

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

on a year-long loan plus a possible six months added if the club advances to the round of 16 at the

2018 Copa Libertadores The 2018 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 59th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. River Plate defeated Boca Juniors in ...

. Monterrey set a $6 million price tag for Cardona if he were to be signed permanently by Boca Juniors. On 14 August, Cardona made his official debut against

Gimnasia y Tiro Club de Gimnasia y Tiro is an Argentine football club, based in the city of Salta. The team currently plays in Torneo Argentino A, the regionalised third division of the Argentine football league system. Gimnasia y Tiro has played four seasons ...

for the Copa Argentina where he provided an assist and scored a goal in a 5–0 victory. He made his

Superclásico Superclásico is the football match in Argentina between Buenos Aires rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate. It derives from the Spanish usage of "clásico" to mean derby, with the prefix "super" used as the two clubs are the most popular and su ...

debut on 5 November, scoring a free-kick goal in an eventual 1–2 away win for the ''Xeneizes''.

International career

Youth

Cardona represented his country at the

2009 South American Under-17 Football Championship The 2009 South American Under-17 Football Championship ( es, Sudamericano Sub-17) was a football competition for U-17 national teams affiliated with CONMEBOL. It was the 13th time the tournament was held. The tournament took place in Chile from Apr ...

in Chile, where he became the top scorer with seven goals in seven matches, including a hat-trick in a 3–0 win against Ecuador. In doing so, he tremendously helped his country qualify for the

2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the thirteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November 2009. The tournament was won by Switzerland, beating the host team and holders, Nigeria. The Golden Ball to the Be ...

due to take place in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November. Cardona was selected to play for his country in the

2011 Toulon Tournament The 2011 Toulon Tournament was the 39th edition of the Toulon Tournament and took place from 1 June to 10 June. Ivory Coast were the defending champions, but they failed to win a single match and were eliminated in the group stage. Colombia won ...

in France. He scored three goals in the Championships including two goals against Ivory Coast and a goal against Mexico in the semi-final. Colombia went on to win the final in a penalty shoot-out against the host nation France.

Senior

On 3 October 2014, Cardona was called up to the Colombian senior team, for the first time, by manager

Jose Nestor Pekerman Jose is the English language, English transliteration of the Hebrew language, Hebrew and Aramaic language, Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods ...

for the team's

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

and Canada. As a starter, he made his senior debut against El Salvador. He was called up again for Colombia's national team on 3 November 2014, this time for friendlies against the United States and Slovenia. He assisted Teófilo Gutiérrez in the 86th minute winning goal for an eventual 2–1 victory over the United States. Cardona would score his first goal for the national team against Kuwait in a 3–1 victory. Cardona scored his first goal during an official competition with the Colombian senior team during the CONMEBOL qualifiers for the Russia 2018 World Cup match against Peru which was won by Colombia 2–0. In May 2018, he was named in Colombia's preliminary 35 man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

in Russia. However, he did not make the final 23-man-cut.

Controversy

In a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

match between Colombia and South Korea in

Suwon Suwon (, ) is the capital and largest city of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea's most populous province which surrounds Seoul, the national capital. Suwon lies about south of Seoul. It is traditionally known as "The City of Filial Piety". With a populati ...

on 10 November 2017, with Colombia down 0–2 in the 62nd minute, James Rodríguez attempted to pick up Korean player Jin-Su Kim from the ground in a rough manner after Kim was fouled. Korean captain Sung-Yueng Ki lightly shoved Rodríguez, and Rodríguez then fell to the ground while pretending to cover his eye as if Ki slapped his face. Edwin Cardona was caught up in the ensuing scuffle and was caught on camera making a slant-eyed gesture toward the Korean players. Although the incident went unnoticed by the match referee, the incident sparked outrage on social media and calls for heavy FIFA punishment for the

player. Cardona apologized the same day via Twitter, saying that "I didn't mean to disrespect anyone, a country or a race, but if anyone felt offended, or interpreted it in that way, I am sorry." In December 2017 FIFA banned Cardona for five international games, although he would still be able to participate in the upcoming World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Atlético Nacional *

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor (between 2015 and 2019 ''Liga Águila'') due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a Colombian professional league for association football clubs. It is the ...

: 2011-I, 2014-I Independiente Santa Fe *

: 2012-I Boca Juniors *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

: 2017–18 * Copa Argentina: 2019–20 * Copa de la Liga Profesional:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Colombia U-20 * Toulon Tournament:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Colombia *

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

Third place:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual * South American Under-17 Football Championship top scorer:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

* Star XI of the Americas: 2014

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardona, Edwin 1992 births Living people Colombian footballers Men's association football midfielders Atlético Nacional footballers Independiente Santa Fe footballers Atlético Junior footballers C.F. Monterrey players Boca Juniors footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Categoría Primera A players Liga MX players Argentine Primera División players Colombia men's youth international footballers Colombia men's under-20 international footballers Colombia men's international footballers Colombian expatriate footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Mexico Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Argentina 2015 Copa América players Copa América Centenario players 2019 Copa América players 2021 Copa América players Footballers from Medellín