Colombia: Premier League Nations
The next destination of our alphabetical world tour is Colombia. The 2001 Copa America champions have enjoyed a resurgence on the international stage in recent years, reaching consecutive World Cup Finals tournaments with their best players playing for some of the World’s best clubs.
According to the Premier League website, 18 Colombians have appeared in the Premier League, most of them in the last decade.
First Player – Faustino Asprilla (Newcastle; 1996-98)
A blockbuster player in a blockbuster side, Faustino Asprilla became the first Colombian to play in the Premier League in 1996. He appeared in 14 games as Newcastle famously failed to win the 1995/96 League title, and scored in the infamous 4-3 loss to Liverpool.
Asprilla featured sporadically throughout his second season in England as Newcastle again finished second, though he impressed with exceptional performances in the UEFA Cup.
His European prowess continued into his final campaign for the Magpies, in which he scored just two league goals but bagged a hat-trick to defeat Barcelona 3-2 in the Champions League. They proved to be his final goals for Newcastle as he returned to previous club Parma in January 1998.
Records
- Most Appearances – Juan Pablo Ángel (175)
- First appearance – Faustino Asprilla (Middlesbrough 1-2 NEWCASTLE, February 10th 1996)
- Most goals – Juan Pablo Ángel (44)
- First goal – Faustino Asprilla (Man City 3-3 NEWCASTLE, February 24th 1996)
Current
Five Colombians have appeared in the Premier League during 2019/20 so far. Brighton youngster Steven Alzate has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign so far in 2019/20, and is joined by Bournemouth’s Jefferson Lerma, Everton’s Yerry Mina, and Carlos and Davinson Sánchez, of West Ham and Spurs respectively.
Trivia
- Colombia are one of 10 nations from the CONMEBOL, the only confederation to have had all of its members represented in the Premier League.
- Hámilton Ricard is Middlesbrough’s top scorer in the Premier League (31 goals).
- Juan Cuadrado is the only Colombian to have won the Premier League, making 12 appearances for Chelsea in the second half of 2014/15.