Luis Antonio Valencia Mosquera

Born August 4, 1985. Valencia is one of just 3 European-based players named in the Ecuador national team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He is seen as a good young hope in Ecuadorian football, playing in midfield. He could well be considered the future of Ecuador's football. He combines his speed with his technical skills, making him a very important player for Ecuador.

International Career

His first international cap was in a qualifier against Paraguay in which Ecuador won 5-2. Valencia scored 2 goals for his country in that match. He has recently been on the starting lineup for Ecuador in warm-up friendlies and has shown exceptional maturity and progress in Ecuador's World Cup Finals appearances thus far in the wins against Poland and Costa Rica, provide a cross leading to Carlos Tenorio's 8th minute goal against Costa Rica, as well as being the link from the defence to the strikers with precision ball taking and elegant tackles combined with accurate through balls and pin-point crosses to the forwards.

Hailed as one of their brightest young talents, Luis Valencia may well be considered the future of Ecuadorian football. The young attacking midfielder earned a transfer to Spanish club Villarreal CF in 2005, but was loaned to Recreativo de Huelva as he attempted to adjust to European football and helped that same club climb to the La Liga for the 2006-2007 season.

Valencia, who can play in central midfield as well as on the right wing, combines speed with great technical abilities with balanced defensive attributes. He scored two goals in his first senior cap in 2006 FIFA World Cup™ qualifying match against Paraguay, helping Ecuador to a 5-2 victory.

As a reward to his fine display, Valencia is a nominee to be a part of FIFA's ideal 11 team, which recognises the top stars for every position in the World Cup, along with his teammates, the excellent striker Agustin Delgado and the immovable defender, Giovanny Espinosa. He was also shortlisted as one of the six potential candidates for the Gillette Best Young Player award, over many more well known candidates. Although it was Lukas Podolski who was selected for the award, Valencia received the most votes in the official poll.

Transfer to Wigan

On the 3rd August 2006 it was confirmed that Valencia would be joining English Premier League team Wigan Athletic on a 12 month loan deal. Wigan manager Paul Jewell had this to say about his new signing: "Antonio is something new for Wigan. As with most South Americans, he has skill in abundance and combines it with electric pace and a very high work rate. He has played in Europe for a season, and I'm convinced he has the attributes to make a success of the Premiership. He is something different and I feel he is going to bring an exciting new dimension to our squad."

On the 19th August 2006 Valencia made his debut for Wigan, starting on the right wing in a 2-1 loss at the hands of Newcastle United.

Professional Teams

2006-07 Wigan Athletic [ENG]
2005-06 Recreativo [ESP]
2004-05 Villareal CF [ESP]
2003-04 El Naciona [ECU]
 
Honours

FIFA World Cup Germany 2006