The greatest Panamanian soccer player
Dely Valdés
Julio César Dely Valdés (born March 12, 1967) is a Panamanian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is a twin brother of Jorge Dely Valdés and younger brother of Armando Dely Valdés. Born in Colón, Dely Valdés began his professional career in 1987 in Argentina with Deportivo Paraguayo of Argentina (after trying up to get in the Argentinos Juniors' Squad), where he scored 28 goals. He then moved to Club Nacional de Football in Uruguay, where he scored more than 100 goals and won the Uruguayan Championship in 1992. In Europe, he played for Cagliari in Serie A and Paris Saint-Germain alongside Brazilian players like Raí and Leonardo in the French Première Division. Nicknamed Panagol,[2] he then played in Spain's Primera División with Real Oviedo for three seasons and with Málaga for another three, where he became the most prolific goal scorer in Málaga's history in Primera División, before returning to Nacional. He finished out his career in 2006 after playing two seasons with Panamanian club Arabe Unido. Dely Valdés made his debut for Panama in a May 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup match against Honduras and earned a total of 44 caps, scoring 18 goals.[3] He represented his country in 27 FIFA World Cup qualification matches[4] and was a member of the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup team, who finished second in the tournament,[5] losing the final against USA in the penalty shootout. He also played at the 2001[6] and 2003 UNCAF Nations Cups.[7] Both he and his twin brother announced their international retirement in November 2004,[8] but they both returned for a final Gold Cup tournament and World Cup qualification matches in 2005. His final international was an October 2005 FIFA World Cup qualification match against the United States, just as his twin brother Jorge.
Statistics for this Xoptio
Rommel Fernández
Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez (15 January 1966 – 6 May 1993) was a Panamanian footballer who played as a striker. The second Panamanian to play in Europe, he spent almost his entire professional career in Spain, amassing La Liga totals of 104 games and 32 goals – 162/56 both major levels combined – in representation of four teams. In 1993, he died in a car accident, at the age of just 27. Fernández was born in the Panama City neighborhood of El Chorrillo. In 1987 the 21-year-old signed for CD Tenerife in Spain from Alianza, scoring a career-best 18 goals in his second season as the Canary Islands side was promoted to La Liga for the second time in its history; in the following years he also netted in double digits as the club retained its top division status – in the 1989–90 campaign he was named Best South American Player (sic) in the Spanish League and, the following year, was voted best Ibero-American player in the competition by news agency EFE, receiving the Trofeo EFE.[1] Nicknamed "The Panzer",[2] Fernández moved to Valencia CF in 1991, but was used mostly as a backup in his only season, scoring just two goals. Subsequently he joined Albacete Balompié on loan, helping the Castile-La Mancha team retain its first division status in its second season ever and scoring his 50th league goal in the process, against former club Tenerife. Fernández represented Panama numerous times, making his debut in the late 80's. In 1986, during a trip with the national team to Spain to participate in the Mundialito de la Emigración, a tournament where Tenerife played a select squad of players with Spanish ancestry, he played well enough to be offered a contract by the hosts. Fernández's last match with Panama was a 1–5 defeat in Costa Rica for the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, on 23 August 1992.