The best Ecuadorian footballers of all time
Ecuador is a relatively small footballing nation that currently boasts an abundance of young talent, including Brighton and Hove Albion duo Moises Caicedo and Jeremy Sarmiento, as well as Bayer Leverkusen’s defensive rock Piero Hincapie.
Ecuador have only qualified for the FIFA World Cup three times, making their debut in South Korea/Japan in 2002.
This year, Ecuador is seen as a dark horse by many football fans, with their golden generation cautiously reckoned to potentially upset the odds in Qatar.
Who were the South American football heroes of the past? This post will discuss La Tricolor’s 5 top football players of all time.
5. Agustin Delgado
Caps: 71
Goals: 31
Agustin Delgado begins the list, and he is certainly one of the finest players to emerge from the nation. Delgado played a huge part in securing Ecuador’s first ever World Cup Qualification.
The striker scored almost nine goals in qualification to send La Tri to South Korea and Japan.
The deadly forward also went on to score his nation’s first ever World Cup goal, striking against Mexico.
Delgado’s club form was a rather different story, playing in the Premier League for Southampton.
He did manage to score some vital goals on the South coast, including a crucial winner against Arsenal in the Premier League. However, overall he struggled to impact the score sheet.
Delgado struggled to have a lasting impact on the St Mary’s faithful, but his influence was strong back home. He is now a politician, running in several general elections.
4. Edison Mendes
Caps: 108
Goals: 18
Edison Mendes blossomed in the mid-2000s. He scored five goals for Ecuador in the 2006 World Cup qualifying, as he led them to securing participation for the tournament held in Germany.
Mendes recorded two assists to reach the last 16 of the World Cup and this put him on the radar of huge clubs across Europe, before he eventually joined Dutch outfit PSV Eindhoven.
In the Netherlands, he won two Eredivisie titles and he became the first player from his country to score in the Champions League, which is perhaps one of the biggest reasons for his iconic status.
Ecuadorians have rarely managed to adapt to European Football, and Mendes is seen as one of the first to leave a lasting mark on the sport in this area of the world.
3. Alex Aguinaga
Caps: 109
Goals: 23
Alex Aguinaga wore the armband as he played alongside Delgado in the famous team that earned Ecuador’s maiden World Cup participation in 2002.
Aguinaga was a veteran in the late stages of his career at this point, but he had already earned adoration from Ecuadorian supporters despite spending his entire club career in Latin America, with Naxaca of Mexico.
Aguinaga was rumoured to have rejected the advances of Real Madrid and Inter Milan in order to remain loyal to his Mexican team.
He spent most of his career in North America, winning three Liga MX titles.
The creative midfielder scored 100 goals in Mexico, which placed him in Naxaca folklore meaning he is seen as a legend by supporters in Mexico aswell as Ecuador.
2. Antonio Valencia
Caps: 99
Goals: 11
This Manchester United regular came onto the scene during the 2nd half of Sir Alex Ferguson’s tenure, and he goes down as one of the greatest to emerge from Ecuador.
A winger in the early part of his career- turned to right back in the latter stages- he played a vital role in Manchester United’s success, as they won many Premier League titles.
Antonio Valencia was signed from Wigan Athletic in 2009 in a deal amounting to £16 million and played a huge part in the run to the UEFA Champions League final in 2011, where the Red Devils lost to a Lionel Messi-powered Barcelona.
At the international level, Valencia played alongside Mendes on the side that ensured Ecuador would play in the World Cup for a second consecutive time in 2006.
The winger recorded two goals in the qualifying process for the tournament. In 2014, Valencia wore the armband as Ecuador again reached the World Cup in Brazil.
The versatile wide man is seen as the players to have broken the most ground in Europe out of any Ecuadorian player ever, and he is therefore positioned near the peak of Ecuador footballing folklore.
5. Alberto Spencer
Caps: 11
Goals: 4
Alberto Spencer is an extremely controversial choice for the number one spot as he struggled to showcase his ability as a result of Ecuador’s lack of quality, which meant they rarely qualified for international competitions.
This prolific forward is claimed to be the greatest player to never play at a World Cup by many Ecuador fans.
Spencer spent majority of his career at Penarol in Uruguay, scoring 326 goals in a 10-year spell in Montevideo. South American football fans regard Spencer to be one of the continent’s greatest ever footballers.
Spencer is most commonly known for his record of the most goals scored in South America’s premier club competition the Copa Libertadores.
He was named the 20th best South American football player in the 20th century in a 2004 poll by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics.