Antonio Valencia

Luis Antonio Valencia Mosquera, known as Antonio Valencia (Spanish pronunciation: [anˈtonjo βaˈlensja]; born 4 August 1985), is an Ecuadorian former professional footballer who played primarily as a right-sided player throughout his career, initially as a right winger, before developing into a right-back.

After progressing through the youth system at El Nacional, Valencia became a first team regular and made over 80 appearances for the club. He won the Ecuadorian Serie A with them before signing for La Liga side Villarreal in 2005. He only made two league appearances for the Spanish side in between loan spells at Recreativo for the 2005–06 season and later English Premier League club Wigan Athletic from 2006 to 2008. Wigan Athletic later signed Valencia on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee in January 2008. His performances for Wigan Athletic soon attracted attention from several high-profile clubs, eventually signing for Manchester United in June 2009. Regarded as one of Ecuador's top players in history, Valencia was voted into the PFA Team of the Year in his debut season with the club, and he went on to win two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, two League Cups, three FA Community Shields and the UEFA Europa League. In July 2019 Valencia returned to Ecuador, signing with LDU Quito, with whom he won the inaugural Copa Ecuador in his first season. He announced his retirement in May 2021.

Valencia made his Ecuador debut in 2004 and has represented his country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2007 Copa America, the 2011 Copa America, the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Copa America Centenario and the 2019 Copa America. Valencia won 99 caps and scored 11 goals for his country.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Антонио Валенсия (russian)