José Luis Villanueva

José Luis Villanueva Ahumada (born November 5, 1981) is a Chilean former footballer who played as a forward.

For the Spanish cyclist, see José Luis Villanueva Orihuela.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Villanueva and the second or maternal family name is Ahumada.
José Luis Villanueva
Personal information
Full name José Luis Villanueva Ahumada
Date of birth (1981-11-05) November 5, 1981
Place of birth Santiago, Chile
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Palestino
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2003 Palestino 31 (22)
2001 → Deportes Temuco (loan) 12 (7)
2002 → Deportes Ovalle (loan) 36 (20)
2004 Cobreloa 16 (1)
2004–2005 Universidad Católica 36 (16)
2005–2006 Racing Club 31 (7)
2006 Morelia 16 (4)
2007 Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i 3 (1)
2008 Vasco da Gama 5 (0)
2008–2009 Bunyodkor 47 (28)
2010 Tianjin Teda 12 (2)
2011 Universidad Católica 23 (5)
2012 Deportes Antofagasta 8 (1)
2012–2013 Boca Unidos 23 (4)
2013–2015 Magallanes 46 (10)
Total 345 (128)
International career
2001 Chile U20
2004 Chile U23 6 (2)
2003–2006 Chile 4 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Second Division in Chile

In 2001, Chilean first division side Palestino loaned Villanueva out to second division squad Deportes Temuco, where he scored seven goals and helped the club gain promotion to the first division. The following year, instead of returning to Palestino, Villanueva was again loaned out, this time to second division club Deportes Ovalle. In 2002, Villanueva scored 20 goals with Ovalle.

Palestino

After the 2002 campaign, Villanueva was called to stay with his original team in first division. Villanueva continued his goal-scoring during the 2003 season with Palestino by scoring 22 goals in 34 matches, including in the Pre-Sudamericana Cup. After the season, Palestino once again loaned Villanueva out, this time to Universidad Católica. From 2004 to 2005, Villanueva scored 16 more goals.[1]

Out of Chile

Palestino sold him to Argentine side Racing Club in 2005 for $600,000, immediately becoming a fan favourite. In a match against Quilmes, Villanueva scored two goals to lead Racing Club to a 4–1 victory. With less than a minute left in the match, Villanueva was substituted off. As he left the pitch, the fans could be heard chanting "shileno, shileno", just how River Plate fans had chanted for Chilean legend Marcelo Salas and Alexis Sánchez years prior.

Villanueva then had spells in South Korea for Ulsan Hyundai in 2007 and in Brazil for Vasco da Gama in 2008 before moving to Uzbekistan.[2] In Tashkent based club Bunyodkor, he played under number 17. During AFC Champions League he couldn’t participate in the competition due to the limit of foreign players as Rivaldo, Victor and Ramos were chosen.

International career

Villanueva represented Chile internationally at the under-20 level at the 2001 South American U-20 Championship and under-23 level during the preolympic qualifications in 2004, and represented the adult squad since 2003.[3]

After football

After his retirement, he continued playing football at amateur level for the club Alianza of La Reina.[4] At the same time, he writes a popular "opinion piece" about football in PrensaFútbol.com and works as a football commentator in both TV and radio programs. Currently, he works for both ESPN Chile and Radio Pauta.[5]

Since 2016, he has an undertaking called "The Football Experience" which helps amateur football players to live an experience as a professional footballer, organizing matches around the world.[4][6]

Personal life

He also is married to 30-year-old journalist, Fernanda Bünzli. He likes to travel around the world and he hopes he could write in the future about his experiences. He hopes to end his career with his favorite Chilean squad Universidad Católica and then study a professional career.

Honours

Club
Bunyodkor
Universidad Católica

References
  1. "José Luis Villanueva".
  2. Mercado: José Luis Villanueva apuesta a jugar en Católica goal.com - Jan 4, 2010 La Nación (Chile)
  3. José Luis Villanueva – FIFA competition record (archived)
  4. "José Luis Villanueva, el Villagol del Alianza". Portaligas (in Spanish). 25 June 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  5. "José Luis Villanueva: "Anuncié la partida de Quinteros hace dos meses"" (in Spanish). Las Últimas Noticias. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  6. "The Football Experience se tomó Río de Janeiro en soñada aventura". Prensafútbol (in Spanish). 12 May 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.