Noel Valladares

Noel Eduardo Valladares Bonilla (born 3 May 1977 in Comayagua, Honduras) is a Honduran former football goalkeeper, who last played for Liga Nacional team Olimpia.

Noel Valladares
Valladares in 2014
Personal information
Full name Noel Eduardo Valladares Bonilla[1]
Date of birth (1977-05-03) 3 May 1977
Place of birth Comayagua, Honduras
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2005 Motagua 368 (3)
2005–2016 Olimpia 427 (0)
Total 795 (3)
National team
2000–2016 Honduras 135 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Valladares and the second or maternal family name is Bonilla.

Valladares is Honduras' third most capped footballer of all time, after Amado Guevara and Maynor Figueroa.

Club career

Valladares started his career at local club Real Comayagua, and made his professional debut in 1997 with F.C. Motagua.[2] In 2003, as a third-choice keeper{Clarify} at Motagua he entered as a striker in an injury-plagued derby with Olimpia. He scored a header and played few more games as a striker before returning into goalkeeper duties with Motagua and then Olimpia.

After for so many years playing for Olimpia, on 7 November 2016 he announced that he would officially end his career, then after losing to Motagua in the semifinals of the Apertura 2016 on 4 December 2016, he officially retired from playing after 19 years since he began his career with Motagua in 1997.[3][4]

International career

He was a member of the national squad at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.[5] Prior to that experience he played as goalkeeper and forward for Honduras at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.

Valladares made his senior debut for Honduras in a June 2000 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Haiti and has, as of February 2013, earned a total of 135 caps, scoring no goals. He has represented his country in 46 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and played in all three matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[6] He played at the 2009[7] and 2011 UNCAF Nations Cups[8] as well as at the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup[9] and the 2001 Copa América.

Valladares has been the first-choice goalkeeper for his country for over 10 years and became the third Honduran to reach a century of caps,[10] after record cap Amado Guevara and Honduras' top goalscorer of all time Carlos Pavón.[11] He was an instrumental figure behind Honduras's qualifying run to the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals and played in all three games in South Africa, conceding 3 goals against Chile (0–1) and Spain (0–2) before keeping a clean sheet and earning the Man of the Match award in the team's final game, against Switzerland.

His nickname in the Honduras squad is The Secret due to his shy personality away from the field. In 2010, he succeeded Amado Guevara as the captain of the Honduras national football team.

In 2011, he won the award for "Best Goalkeeper in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup." In the same tournament he won the award for the 3rd as well as the 4th best save.

Honours

Club

C.D. Olimpia

F.C. Motagua

International

Honduras

Individual

References
  1. "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil: List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 11 June 2014. p. 19. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  2. Noel Valladares: “La afición nos pide estemos encima del rival” Archived 15 June 2013 at Archive.today – Tiempo (in Spanish)
  3. ¡BOMBAZO! Noel Valladares anuncia su retiro del fútbol en Honduras – Diez (in Spanish)
  4. Noel Valladares se despide del fútbol eliminado de la gran final por Motagua – Diez (in Spanish)
  5. "Noel Valladares Biography & Statistics". Sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
  6. Noel Valladares – FIFA competition record
  7. Qualifying Tournament for Gold Cup 2009 – Details Archived 5 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine – RSSSF
  8. UNCAF (Qualifying Tournament for Gold Cup) 2011 – Details – RSSSF
  9. CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2011 – Full Details – RSSSF
  10. Noel Valladares festejó los 100 partidos con derrota – Diez (in Spanish)
  11. Players with 100+ Caps and 30+ International Goals Archived 22 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine – RSSSF
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