Johan Vonlanthen Benavídez (born 1 February 1986) is a former 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 played as a winger. Born in Colombia, he opted to play for

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, for whom he became eligible through his Swiss-born stepfather. Having made his

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

debut

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

at the age of 16, he moved to PSV in 2003. He initially announced the end of his active career in May 2012. He came back out of retirement in May 2013 and signed for

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

in June. He retired in August 2018 after two years with FC Wil.

Club career

Early career

Vonlanthen played as a junior for

in Switzerland. In the 2001–02 season, he made his debut as a 16-year-old in the

starting eight games and appearing once as a substitute. In the summer of 2003, he was transferred to the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

. On 21 June 2004, Vonlanthen became the youngest goalscorer when he scored for the Switzerland national team against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

, Portugal at the age of 18 years and 141 days old. He made a good initial impression and helped PSV qualify for 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 good first season, he began to lose form and as a consequence was loaned out to Italian side

Brescia Calcio Brescia Calcio, commonly referred to as Brescia (), is an Italian football club based in Brescia, Lombardy. The team currently plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football, but will play in Serie C in 2025–26 due to financial contro ...

for the last six months of the 2004–05 season. He was again loaned out to

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

for the 2005–06 season.

Red Bull Salzburg

At the start of the 2006–07 season, Vonlanthen transferred to Red Bull Salzburg in the

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

. On 13 July 2009,

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

signed the Swiss forward on a season long loan deal. The move was not made permanent, and Vonlanthen returned to Salzburg for the start of the 2010–11 season.

Itagüí, Wohlen and initial retirement

Vonlanthen moved to Colombian Primera División side Itagüí in August 2011. On 30 May 2012, Vonlanthen announced his retirement at age 26. According to him, he 'could not face the prospect of undergoing a knee operation'.

Return

On 13 June 2013, Vonlanthen came out of retirement to join

, signing a one-year deal with an option for a further two years. On 27 December 2013, Vonlanthen was loaned out to Swiss second division side

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

, due to a lack of playing time at Grasshoppers. He retired in August 2018 after two years with FC Wil.

International career

Vonlanthen's stepfather is a Swiss national, giving him the right to play for that country. On 6 June 2004, Vonlanthen made his senior debut for the Switzerland national team against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

. He came on as a substitute in the 81st minute to replace

Alexander Frei Alexander Frei or Alex Frei (born 15 July 1979) is a Swiss professional football coach and a former player who played as a forward. He was most recently head coach of FC Aarau in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. Fr ...

. Switzerland went on to beat Liechtenstein 1–0. At

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

, Vonlanthen became the second youngest player to play in the tournament when he came on as a substitute against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. On 21 June 2004, Vonlanthen became the youngest scorer ever in the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

when he equalised against

, beating

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

's record – which had only been set four days before – by three months. However his record was beaten by Lamine Yamal on 9 July 2024 during

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

semifinals against France. Since the

in Portugal, Vonlanthen managed to maintain a regular position in the national team and as well as playing frequently in the under 21s side. He was part of the squad that very narrowly lost out to Spain on a place in the 2009 European Championships. He had scored the equaliser in the first leg in a 2–1 win but the Spanish came back to win 3–1 in the second leg and 4–3 on aggregate. Vonlanthen was called up to the Swiss squad to play in

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

, but was unable to participate due to a

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

injury. He was also called up for

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

Personal life

Vonlanthen is member of the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sa ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

References

External links

www.psvweb.nl profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vonlanthen, Johan 1986 births Living people Swiss people of Colombian descent Colombian men's footballers Swiss men's footballers Footballers from Magdalena Department Footballers from Santa Marta Men's association football wingers Switzerland men's international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players UEFA Euro 2008 players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Eredivisie players Serie A players Categoría Primera A players BSC Young Boys players PSV Eindhoven players Brescia Calcio players NAC Breda players FC Red Bull Salzburg players FC Zürich players Águilas Doradas players FC Wohlen players Grasshopper Club Zurich players FC Schaffhausen players Servette FC players FC Wil players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 21st-century Swiss sportsmen Colombia Seventh-day Adventists 21st-century Colombian sportsmen