| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jimmy Bermúdez Valencia | ||
| Date of birth | (1987-12-16) 16 December 1987 (age 36) | ||
| Place of birth | Puerto Tejada, Colombia | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2004 | Boca Juniors de Cali[1] | ||
| 200?–2006 | Atlético Nacional | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006 | → Alianza Petrolera (loan) | ||
| 2006 | → Atlético Bucaramanga (loan) | 11 | (0) |
| 2007–2009 | Atlético Nacional | 9 | (0) |
| 2010 | Envigado | 25 | (0) |
| 2011 | Atlético Huila | 10 | (0) |
| 2012–2016 | LDU Loja | 66 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | → Atlante (loan) | 17 | (0) |
| 2015–2017 | Atlante | 35 | (0) |
| 2017–2018 | Rionegro Águilas | 2 | (0) |
| 2018 | Atlético | 13 | (0) |
| 2019 | Leones Vegetarianos | ||
| 2020 | Olmedo | 8 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2007 | Colombia U20 | 6 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Equatorial Guinea | 4 | (1) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22 November 2020.[2] ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 February 2019 | |||
Jimmy Bermúdez Valencia (born 16 December 1987) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender. Mainly a centre-back, he also operated as a full-back.
Formed at Boca Juniors de Cali, Bermúdez joined Colombian giants Atlético Nacional and was loaned to Alianza Petrolera in the Categoría Primera B, where he began his professional career. After a second loan, this time to Atlético Bucaramanga in the Categoría Primera A, he was able to play with Atlético Nacional, winning Categoría Primera A. He later played for other Colombian clubs and for sides in Ecuador, Mexico and Equatorial Guinea.
Born and raised in Colombia to Colombian parents, Bermúdez officially played for the Colombia national under-20 team. He later appeared with the Equatorial Guinea national team, after people from the Central African nation liked of some of his football highlights on YouTube and contacted him via his Facebook fanpage.[1]
He played for LDU Loja in two editions of Copa Sudamericana (2012 and 2013).[3]
Baermúdez was a starter for Colombia in the 2007 South American U-20 Championship.
In May 2013, Bermúdez was purchased by the Equatoguinean football team, which then he began to represent, received Equatoguinean citizenship and getting €3,000 for each match played.[4]
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 November 2013 | Estadio de Malabo, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea |  Spain |
1–1 | 1–2 | Friendly match |
Bermúdez recognizes that he is not of Equatorial Guinean descent, but considers he can represent the African country as he has not played for Colombia at senior level.[6] According to FIFA's rules, footballers should be holders of the second nationality at the time of playing youth international matches with the original country.[7] This rule has already been applied in the similar case of Portuguese-based Brazilian footballer Fernando.[8] Additionally, when Bermúdez made his international debut with Equatorial Guinea, on 8 June 2013,[9] he had spent his entire club career in Colombia and Ecuador. This aspect violated, thus, the condition D of the relevant current FIFA statute about the eligibility of a player, Article 17: Acquisition of a new nationality, which says: «He has lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant Association».[10] Bermúdez was never punished by any of these two situations.
They found videos of me on YouTube, with important plays from different matches. They liked it and contacted me through my Facebook page. Afterwards, there was telephone contact, where they offered me the opportunity to represent Equatorial Guinea in the World Cup qualifiers and I accepted; There I was fulfilling my desire to belong to a national team
Bermúdez assures he's never tried to say that has family, ancestry, history or link with Equatorial Guinea, beyond the affection that now feels by giving him the opportunity. "It's another thing that came fall from God. I never expected anything like this, they contacted me, offered me the citizenship, opened me a door and I decided to enter it. I counseled and I was not doing anything wrong or that someone already had not done. All is legal and with that same tranquility leave it everything in God's hands", said.
  | This biographical article related to a football defender from Colombia is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
