Top 10 Colombian Soccer Players

Top 10 Colombian Soccer Players

James Rodriguez – By Copa2014.gov.br / CC BY 3.0 BR (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/br/deed.en)

Colombia is home to some of the world’s best soccer players, both past and present.

Even though some of these players may choose to never venture outside of South America and play in one of the European leagues, their skill, talent, and level of play is unquestionable. Here we have compiled the top soccer players to hail from Colombia.

1) Carlos Valderrama 

Valderrama colombia 1993 – By Unknown author / Public domain

Carlos Valderrama was born on September 2nd, 1961, and began his career at Unión Magdalena in 1981. He moved to Millonarios, and then to Deportivo Cali, where he ended up playing most of his soccer in his home country.

He moved to Montpellier in 1988, but didn’t fare as well with the faster pace and more tactical style of football. He returned to Colombia in 1992, and played for Independiente Medellin and Atlético Junior.

After a few seasons in Colombia, he ventured outside of his home country again – this time to the US. He joined Tampa Bay Mutiny, moved to Miami Fusion, and then back to Tampa Bay, where he broke a single-season assist record. He then joined the Colorado Rapids in 2001 until his retirement in 2002. 

He is one of South America’s most famous footballers, due to his rise to prominence in the 80s and 90s. He won the South American Footballer of the Year award two times, named in the top 100 players of the 20th century, and was included in the FIFA 100 in 2004. 

2) Radamel Falcao

Radamel Falcao Garcia – By Gil Zetbase / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Falcao was born on February 10th, 1986, and began his career at Lanceros Boyaca at the age of just 13. He joined Porto in 2009, where he won numerous trophies and became their leading goal scorer with 17 in a single European campaign. He was the first player from his country to win the Portuguese Golden Ball award. 

In 2011, Falcao was transferred to Atlético Madrid for over $40 million, and finished as a top goal scorer for the second year. He was named to the FIFA FIFPro World XI in 2012. In 2013, he joined Monaco for $60 million, but unfortunately was sidelined with an ACL injury. He then went on loan to Manchester United and Chelsea. 

In international competitions, Falcao made his debut in 2007, and has earned almost 90 caps since that time. He has scored 34 goals, making him the country’s all-time top goalscorer.

3) Iván Ramiro Córdoba 

Ivan Cordoba Inter Milan – By Steindy (talk) 19:24, 28 November 2009 (UTC) / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Córdoba was born on August 11th, 1976, and started his career with Deportivo Rionegro and Atlético Nacional. He moved to San Lorenzo in Argentina before joining Internazionale in Italy, where he would spend the majority of his playing career. 

The transfer to Internazionale cost the club over $16 million, as he rejected an offer from Real Madrid. He stayed here for many years, becoming a staple in the starting eleven in the backline. He played 324 games for the club and scored 15 goals in this time. 

A highly-decorated athlete, he won numerous championships, including 5 Serie A championships, 4 Coppa Italia titles, 3 Supercoppa Italiana titles, 1 UEFA Champions League title, and 1 FIFA Club World Cup. At the international level, he represented Colombia at the 1998 World Cup, 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the Copa America four times. 

4) Oscar Córdoba

Batistuta v oscar cordoba – By Unknown author / Public domain

Córdoba was born on February 3, 1970, and began his professional career with Atlético Nacional in 1988. He transferred to Deportivo, then was on loan to Deportes Quindio, then moved to Millionarios, and then America de Cali, where he won the Colombian Championship in 1997.

After this championship, he moved to Boca Juniors, where he would start a very successful stint, winning various championships. He transferred to a team in Turkey, where he led the team to win the Turkish First Football League. He returned to his home country and played for Deportivos, before signing for Millonarios for final season before retiring in 2009. 

Córdoba played in over 70 international matches for his country, and was the only keeper to never concede a goal in Copa America, which he did in 2001. 

5) Valencia 

Atletico Junior en el estadio – By Sampués / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Valencia was born on February 6th, 1968, and began his career with Independiente Santa Fe. He soon transferred to FC Bayern Munich, where he won the Bundesliga title. He then played only one season in Spain due to a dispute with his club president, and then proceeded to play for numerous clubs for only one season each. 

He represented Santa Fe, America de Cali, A.C. Regains, Independiente Medellin, PAOK FC, NY/NJ Metro Stars, Zhejiang Lucheng F.C., and Union Atlético Maracaibo. He set a team record during his time in the MLS, and formally retired from soccer in 2004. 

During his international career, he was Colombia’s leading scorer in the 1994 World Cup. 

6) Rene Higuita

Higuita – By Fabián Mauri / Public domain

Higuita was born on August 27th, 1966, and began his career with Millonarios before transferring to Atlético Nacional in 1986. He played most of his career with this side, where he won the Colombian League multiple times. After he left this side, he went to Spain for one season, before coming back to Atletico for four more years. He left to play for Veracruz, before finally returning to Colombia to play for Independiente Medellin, before retiring in 2005. 

After ‘retiring’ in 2005, he came out of retirement in 2007 to play for Guaros FC in Venezuela. He finally retired in 2010, after playing for Deportivo Pereira for 2 seasons.  

Higuita is extremely well-known for his playing style, pioneering goalkeepers taking more risks outside of the box and having a more active role on the field. His style of play created the ‘back-pass rule,’ which allows players on the field to pass it back to your keeper. He is known for taking on defenders, dribbling up the field, and creating scoring opportunities – even though he was a goalkeeper. 

He is one of the world’s top-scoring goalkeepers, with 41 goals to his name. 

7) Faustino Asprilla

Argentina colombia gol asprilla – By Unknown author / Public domain

Asprilla was born on November 10th, 1969, and started his professional. Career with Cucuta Deportivo at the age of 18. He then transferred to Atletico Nacional, where he scored 35 goals in 78 games. Italian club Parma bought him for almost $11 million in 1992. 

He played for Parma from 1992-1996, and had a decorated career with many championships. However, he fell out of favor with the manager, at which point he signed for Newcastle United in 1996. His time here was marred by inconsistent playing and injuries, and he scored only 9 goals in 48 Premier League appearances. 

He was sold back to Parma at the end of his spell at Newcastle United. After one season at Parma, he began a series of short and relatively unproductive seasons at various clubs across the world. He was last known of having played for a club in 2004, but the rest of his career remains a mystery.

8) Freddy Rincón

Argentina colombia gol rincon – By Unknown author / Public domain

Rincón was born on August 4th, 1966, and began his career at Atletico Buenaventura in 1986. He went on to play for Independiente Santa Fe, America de Cali in Colombia, Napoli in Italy, Real Madrid in Spain, and Corinthians in Brazil. 

After a successful career, he spent the latter part of his playing days in Brazil. He won the Brazilian championship in 1998 and 1999 with Corinthians and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2000. 

9) Willington Ortiz

Ortiz was born on March 26th, 1952, and began his career with Millonarios, making his first-team debut in 1971. He won the Colombian First Division Championship in 1972 and 1978. He played with this club until 1979, where he participated in four Copa Libertadores.

He transferred to America de Cali in 1982, where he won the Colombian Domestic league title four years in a row. His 49 appearances and 12 goals for the Colombian national team helped him rank as the International Federation of Football History and Statistics’ South America’s Player of the Century. 

10) James Rodriguez

James Rodriguez 2018 – By Rufus46 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Rodriguez was born July 12th, 1991, and started his career at Envigado before moving to Banfield in Argentina. He became a well-known name during his time at Porto, before he moved Real Madrid in 2014 for a transfer of over $63 million. He was named La Liga Team of the Season and Best Midfielder in his debut season. After this success, he signed for Bayern Munich on a two-year deal. 

He started his international career with the U-20 team in 2011. He was called up to the senior squad when he was 20 years old, and was a member of the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup teams. 

See, here’s proof – not all of the best footballers come from Europe

Colombia is overlooked in terms of churning out successful and talented soccer players – but here we can see the amount of athletes who have had tremendous success, whether in domestic leagues or abroad. Regardless of which league, Colombia is home to numerous skilled, talented, and infamous footballers who have left their mark on the soccer world.