Alex Valencia

Alex Marcel Lund Valencia (born 22 September 1979) is a Norwegian footballer who plays as a right winger for Åsane. He has previously played for top-flight clubs in Norway and Denmark. Valencia is of Colombian descent and has been capped for the Norwegian national team in both football and futsal.

Alex Valencia
Personal information
Full name Alex Marcel Lund Valencia
Date of birth (1979-09-22) 22 September 1979
Place of birth Bergen, Norway
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Right winger
Youth career
Åsane
KIL/Hemne
Åsane
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
0000–1998 Åsane
1998–2003 Brann 80 (7)
2004–2007 Start 77 (11)
2007–2008 AGF 24 (2)
2008–2009 Odd Grenland 24 (0)
2009–2012 Fredrikstad 54 (5)
2013 Åsane 9 (4)
National team‡
1995 Norway U15 1 (0)
1997 Norway U17 4 (2)
2001 Norway U21 8 (2)
2001–2006 Norway 5 (0)
2002 Norway B 1 (0)
Norway futsal 8 (5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 27 August 2013
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21 February 2008

Early life

Valencia is son of the former Tromsø IL player Arnt Hugo Lund, who played approximately 300 matches between 1964 and 1979. Valencia was born after his father and his Colombian mother moved to Bergen to study. He lived in Bergen and played for Åsane for his entire childhood,[1] with the exception of a short stay in Trøndelag where he played youth-football for KIL/Hemne.[2] Valencia was known as one of the most talented footballers in Hordaland and transferred from Åsane to Brann in 1998.[3]

Club career

Valencia made his debut in Tippeligaen against Tromsø on 7 May 1998,[3] and became a regular in Teitur Thordarson's team during the 2000 season. He made his break-through the following season and played every match for Brann in Tippeligaen.[2] Valencia was primarily used as a right winger, but was also used occasionally as a striker. After Mons Ivar Mjelde became head coach of Brann, Valencia lost his spot in the starting line-up and received less playing time. Valencia played a total of 106 matches and scored 12 goals for Brann and moved to the First Division side Start after the 2003 season.[3]

When signing for Start, the Director of Sports, Erik Solér stated that Valencia had the potential to play for the Norwegian national team.[4] Start won promotion to Tippeligaen with Tom Nordlie as head coach in Valencia's first season with the club, and the following season the newly promoted side finished second in the 2005 Tippeligaen. Valencia was one of the biggest contributors to the surprising silver medals,[2] and the right winger was named "Player of the Year" in Tippeligaen by Fædrelandsvennen, Nettavisen and Verdens Gang.[5][6] Valencia scored a total of 11 goals in 77 league-matches for Start, and moved to the Danish Superliga side AGF Aarhus in July 2007.[7]

Valencia's spell in Denmark was not a success, and he was named the third worst signing in the 2007–08 Danish Superliga by Ekstrabladet in October 2007.[8] He only played 90 minutes for AGF twice, and scored a total of 2 goals in 23 matches for the club, before he returned Norway where he joined the First Division side Odd Grenland in August 2008.[9] Valencia never became a regular in Odd's team, and was sold to Fredrikstad in August 2009, where he was reunited with the head coach from Start, Tom Nordlie.[10] Valencia played for Fredrikstad until the end of the 2012 season when his contract expired, and the club who had been relegated to the second tier did not want to renew his contract. Valencia returned to his youth-club Åsane ahead of the 2013 season, and got a job as a car-salesman in addition to playing for the team in the 2. Divisjon.[11]

International career

Valencia first represented Norway when he played one match for the under-15 team in 1995. He played four matches and scored two goals for the under-17 team in 1997, before he represented the under-21 team in 2001 where he scored two goals in eight appearances.[12] Valencia made his debut for the Norwegian national team against Turkey in August 2001.[3] The next year he made one appearance for Norway B.[12] Valencia was not called up for the national team until April 2005, when he was included in the squad that met Estonia in a friendly match.[13] He was capped twice in both 2005 and 2006, and earned a total of five caps for Norway.[12]

Futsal career

Valencia has also played futsal, and was included in Norwegian national futsal team's first squad in 2003, along with other Tippeligaen players like Kristofer Hæstad, Fredrik Strømstad and Espen Edvardsen.[14] Valencia scored one of the goals in the 7–5 victory against Canada in the 2003 Futsal World Cup, which was Norway's first victory in an international futsal tournament.[15]

Career statistics
Season Club Division League Cup Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
1998 Brann Tippeligaen 300030
1999 102131
2000 15110161
2001 26152313
2002 21341254
2003 14241183
2004 Start Adeccoligaen 22222244
2005 Tippeligaen 26642308
2006 21233245
2007 8121102
2007–08 AGF Superliga 23200232
2008–09 100010
2008 Odd Grenland Adeccoligaen 9020110
2009 Tippeligaen 15010160
2009 Fredrikstad 610061
2010 Adeccoligaen 22223245
2011 Tippeligaen 9031121
2012 17210182
2013 Åsane 2. Divisjon 940094
Career Total 26829361730446

References
  1. Grindstein jr., Gunnar (8 August 2001). "Ny Brann-stjerne med TIL-blod i årene" (in Norwegian). Nordlys. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  2. "Alex Marcel Lund Valencia". ffksupporter.no (in Norwegian). 1 September 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  3. "Spillerprofil: Alex Valencia" (in Norwegian). SK Brann. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  4. Pamer, Anders (20 December 2003). "– Skal få Alex tilbake på landslaget" (in Norwegian). Bergensavisen. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  5. Kvamme, Ole Dag (3 November 2005). "Årets spiller drømmer om Spania" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  6. "Start best på børsene" (in Norwegian). Fædrelandsvennen. 3 November 2005. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  7. "Valencia til Danmark" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. Norwegian News Agency. 3 July 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  8. Kvatningen, Roy (30 October 2007). "- Valencia-flopp i Danmark" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  9. "- Valencia tilbake til Norge" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. 15 July 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  10. Buaas, Tom Ole (31 August 2009). "Alex Valencia solgt til FFK" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  11. Kolstad, Jan Gunnar (19 March 2013). "Valencia til Åsane" (in Norwegian). Bergensavisen. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  12. "Alex Valenica's profile". fotball.no (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  13. Andresen, Gorm; Strand, Sigbjørn (13 April 2005). "Alex Valencia med mot Estland" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  14. "Historisk landslagsuttak i futsal". siste.no (in Norwegian). 29 January 2003. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  15. "Futsal: Sensasjonell norsk seier" (in Norwegian). NRK. 24 November 2003. Archived from the original on 15 February 2006. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
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