Ricardo Valencia

Ricardo Valencia
Personal information
Full name	Ricardo Ovidio Valencia
Date of birth	1927
Place of birth	Santa Ana, El Salvador
Date of death	April 20, 2010 (aged 83)
Position(s)	striker
Senior career*
Years	Team
1949–1960	FAS
1955,1957	Once Municipal
1959	Atletico Constancia
International career
1953–1955	El Salvador
Medal record
Representing El Salvador
Men's Football
Central American and Caribbean Games
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ricardo Ovidio Valencia (born 1927 – died April 20, 2010, in Santa Ana, El Salvador) was a Salvadoran footballer who played most of his career in C.D. FAS.

Playing career

Club career

Nicknamed el Chilenito (the little Chilean), Santa Ana-born and raised Ricardo Valencia joined the newly formed team FAS in 1949. He spent 10 years with the club scoring 62 goals and winning 3 titles including one where the entire FAS team was made up of players from Santa Ana. He also played for Once Municipal during 1955 and 1957.

In 1959, he was sold to Atletico Constancia for one colon he played there for one year and then returned to FAS before retiring from football.^[1]

International career

Valencia has made 26 appearances for the El Salvador national football team, scoring five goals. In 1954 he won the gold medal with the Salvadoran team in the Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos, winning the group which contained Mexico, Colombia, Cuba and Panama.^[2]

Retirement and death

After retiring from football, Valencia worked for the Comisión Ejecutiva Hidroeléctrica del Río Lempa (CEL) for more than 30 years. He still remained active with the El Salvador national team and C.D. FAS.

On April 20, 2010, Ricardo Valencia died after suffering respiratory insufficiency, brought on by a pulmonary fibrosis. He is buried at the Cementerio Santa Isabel, de Santa Ana next to his wife Rosa Isabel de Valencia.^[3]