Jeison Fabián Murillo Cerón (born 27 May 1992) is a Colombian 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 as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for Qatari club Al-Shamal.

Club career

Early years and Granada

Born in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

, Murillo signed with

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian fo ...

in Italy shortly after his 18th birthday, being immediately loaned to

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

as part of the partnership agreement between both clubs. He spent his first year in Spain with the reserves, in the regional leagues. In early February 2012, Murillo was definitely bought by the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns, but spent the following seasons on loan to clubs also in the country,

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

and

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

. He scored four official goals in his first year as a professional, including a brace on 9 March 2013 in a 3–2 away win against

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

in the

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 ...

. He appeared in the promotion playoffs with both teams, being unsuccessful on both occasions. Murillo returned to Granada in the middle of 2013, making his

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 ...

debut on 18 August 2013 in a 2–1 win at

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

(90 minutes played). He netted his first goal in the competition on 10 January of the following year, the first in a 4–0 home victory over

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

Inter Milan

In February 2015, Murillo joined

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

on a five-year contract, with the transfer being made effective in July and costing a reported

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

8 million plus €2 million in bonuses, and earning the player €1 million per year. He made his

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

debut on 23 August, playing the entire 1–0 home win against

Atalanta BC Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio (), commonly referred to as Atalanta, is a professional football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy, who compete in Serie A, the top tier of the Italian league system. Founded in 1907, Atalanta holds the record ...

Valencia

On 18 August 2017, Murillo returned to Spain by joining

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

on a two-year loan with an obligation to buy. He contributed 17 matches in his first season, which ended in qualification for the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

after a fourth-place finish. On 20 December 2018, Murillo joined

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

on a loan deal until the end of the campaign with a purchase option worth €25 million. His first competitive appearance took place three weeks later, in a 2–1 away loss to

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

in the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

where he played 90 minutes and was booked. He also started in the second leg, a 3–0 win at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

Sampdoria

On 13 July 2019, still owned by Valencia, Murillo signed with

UC Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

for an initial loan fee of €2 million and an obligation to buy for €13 million at the end of the season. On 15 January 2020, the Italian club bought out his rights and loaned him to

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

until 30 June, with an option to purchase. Murillo agreed to another loan at the Balaídos on 16 September 2020. On 31 August of the following year, a similar move was arranged.

Later career

On 28 July 2023, Murillo signed a two-year contract with

Al-Shamal SC Al-Shamal Sports Club () is a Qatari multi-sports club based in Madinat ash Shamal. Al-Shamal was founded in 1980. Its football team competes in the Qatar Stars League, the top tier of the national football league system. History Mohammed bin B ...

of the

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

International career

Murillo made his debut for

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 ...

on 10 October 2014, playing 30 minutes in a 3–0 friendly win over

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of 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 by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

. He was included in the squad for the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

, scoring the only goal in the second group stage game against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. During the quarter-final match against eventual finalists

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 ...

, he put on a strong performance in the 0–0 draw, but was one of three Colombian players to miss his

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

attempt; he was subsequently named "Best Young Player" of the tournament.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

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

Honours

Barcelona *

: 2018–19 Valencia *

: 2018–19 Colombia U20 *

Toulon Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a Association football, football tournament, which traditionally features invit ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Colombia *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

third place:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Individual *

Best Young Player:

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 ...

*Copa América Team of the Tournament: 2015

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murillo, Jeison 1992 births Living people Colombian people of African descent 21st-century Colombian sportsmen Colombian men's footballers Footballers from Cali Men's association football central defenders Deportivo Cali footballers Serie A players Udinese Calcio players Inter Milan players UC Sampdoria players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Club Recreativo Granada players Granada CF footballers Cádiz CF players UD Las Palmas players Valencia CF players FC Barcelona players RC Celta de Vigo players Qatar Stars League players Al-Shamal SC players Colombia men's youth international footballers Colombia men's under-20 international footballers Colombia men's international footballers 2015 Copa América players Copa América Centenario players Colombian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar