Faryd Mondragón

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Mondragón and the second or maternal family name is Alí.

Faryd Camilo Mondragón Alí (born 21 June 1971) is a Colombian retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Faryd Mondragón

Mondragón playing for 1. FC Köln in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Faryd Camilo Mondragón Alí
Date of birth	(1971-06-21) 21 June 1971 (age 53)
Place of birth	Cali, Colombia
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1991	Deportivo Cali	1	(0)
1991–1992	Real Cartagena	15	(0)
1992–1993	Santa Fe	2	(0)
1992–1993	→ Cerro Porteño (loan)	11	(0)
1993–1994	Argentinos Juniors	21	(0)
1994–1995	Independiente	0	(0)
1995	Santa Fe	30	(0)
1995–2000	Independiente	119	(1)
1999	→ Real Zaragoza (loan)	13	(0)
2000–2001	Metz	30	(0)
2001–2007	Galatasaray	185	(0)
2007–2011	1. FC Köln	106	(0)
2011–2012	Philadelphia Union	27	(0)
2012–2014	Deportivo Cali	78	(0)
Total		638	(1)
International career
1993–2014	Colombia	51	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

In a club career that started and ended at his hometown club Deportivo Cali, Mondragón also had two spells at Argentine club Independiente. In European football, he had brief spells with Zaragoza in La Liga and Metz in Ligue 1, as well as a full decade split between Galatasaray in the Turkish Süper Lig and 1. FC Köln in the Bundesliga.

In a 21-year international career that started in 1993, he played 51 times for the Colombia national team. He was named in the Colombia squads for the 1992 Olympics, two Copa América tournaments, two CONCACAF Gold Cups, and the World Cups of 1994, 1998 and 2014. On 24 June 2014, Mondragón became the oldest player to play a FIFA World Cup match at the age of 43 years and 3 days, a record that was broken four years later by 45-year-old Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary.

Club career

Early career

Born in Cali, Mondragón began his career began at hometown club Deportivo Cali, and he moved to Independiente Santa Fe and then Cerro Porteño in Paraguay. Mondragon held a contract with Cerro Porteño until May 1993.^[2] His deal Cerro Porteño was a six-month loan with the option to buy for US$700,000.^[3] During his stay at Cerro Porteño, he lived in the Hotel Excelsior in Asunción.^[3] In the 1993 Cerro Porteño team, he played with Paraguayans Carlos Gamarra, Francisco Arce, Estanislao Struway, Virgilio Ferreira, Ecuadorian Luis Capurro and Brazilians Alex Rossi, Silvio Wielewski, Carlos Antonio Chaves and Luís Carlos Carvalho dos Reis.^[4] On 23 March 1993, it was announced that Mondragón would join Argentine club River Plate when Cerro Porteño finished its participation in the Copa Libertadores.^[2] Following a Copa Libertadores game for Cerro Porteno against Newell's Old Boys in Rosario, Mondragón flew to Buenos Aires to sign his contract and Cerro Porteño discarded the possibility of permanently signing him because the cost was too high.^[2]

Mondragón joined the Argentine first division side Argentinos Juniors in 1993, and then made his international debut for Colombia. The following year he moved to Independiente where he won, among other titles, the 1995 Supercopa Libertadores against Flamengo. Apart from some brief periods, he largely stood at the club until 2001.

At the end of 1998, Mondragón signed on loan for Real Zaragoza in Spain's La Liga.^[5] He was unable to take the starting place from established goalkeeper Juanmi during his brief spell in Aragon.^[6]

Metz and Galatasaray

Mondragón played for Metz in the French Ligue 1 during the 2000–01 season. In December 2000 he was investigated for the Greek passport he was using to bypass the league's quota of non-European Union players.^[7] The following April, he was convicted of falsification of documents and fined 300,000 French francs (€45,000) as well as being banned from France for two years, all as a suspended sentence.^[8] Toulouse and Marseille appealed to the league that Mondragón played against them in May, but their concerns were dismissed as they had not raised concerns about his presence on the matchday sheets;^[9] Metz had avoided relegation at Toulouse's expense.^[7]

From 2001 to 2007, Mondragón played for Galatasaray in the Turkish Süper Lig, winning two titles and a Turkish Cup. In recognition of his achievements, in 2015 he was made Turkey's honorary consul in Colombia, on the request of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.^[10]

Later career

Mondragón in his second spell at Deportivo Cali

Mondragón transferred from Istanbul to 1. FC Köln in May 2007. After arriving at his new club, he was forced to compete with established Köln goalkeeper Stefan Wessels for a spot in the starting eleven. One of the reasons that he chose 1. FC Köln it was because the current coach Christoph Daum was working there. After an intense pre-season, Mondragón was named as the new number one for 1. FC Köln. This resulted in Wessels leaving the club for Everton in England. Since Wessels departure, Mondragón established a first choice goalkeeper for the club until Mondragón was relegated to the bench after an altercation with Zvonimir Soldo over his desire to go on international duty. This resulted in Mondragón being sent home from the team hotel and being replaced by young Croatian stopper Miro Varvodić.^[11]

His contract with Köln was terminated with effect from 31 December 2010,^[12] the reason being Mondragón's desire to play in the MLS.

He spent the 2011 season with Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer, where he was successful in providing leadership to a young team. On 30 January 2012, Deportivo Cali announced Mondragón had signed a one-year contract to finish his career with his original professional club.^[13] He retired after two and a half seasons back at the club.

International career

Early career

Mondragón was selected for the 1992 Olympic tournament. He made his full international debut against Venezuela in a 1–1 friendly home draw on 21 May 1993.^[14] He was selected for the Colombia national team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the Copa América of 1993 and 1997. Profiting from the absence of regular goalkeeper René Higuita, he played at the latter tournament in Bolivia, which ended with quarter-final elimination to the host team.^[15]

1998 World Cup

During the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, Mondragón started in goal for all three of Colombia's games, including the final group match against England. Despite conceding two goals, he made some impressive saves and in doing so kept the score down to 2–0, with the BBC's South American football correspondent Tim Vickery saying that Mondragón was "single-handedly responsible for the fact that England did not run up a cricket score".^[16] At the end of the game, Mondragón broke down in tears (as the match decided who would go through to the next round after Romania) and David Seaman, England's goalkeeper, did his best to console him. According to German footballing legend Franz Beckenbauer, Mondragón had been the best goalkeeper of the first round.^[17]

1998–2014

At the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Mondragón was in goal for three games, including the 2–0 quarter-final loss to Brazil.^[18] Two years later, he played all five games in a run to the semi-finals, including the 2–1 quarter-final win over reigning champions Mexico at the NRG Arena.^[19]

After the latter Gold Cup, Mondragón was recalled to the Colombia team in September 2010 for friendlies against Ecuador and the United States in the latter country; he was 39.^[20] He started against the latter on 12 October, in a goalless draw.^[21][22]

2014 World Cup

Along with Carlos Valderrama, the country's most capped player, Mondragón is the only Colombian to have participated in five FIFA World Cup qualification campaigns.^[14] In 2010, he was recalled to the Colombian squad at the age of 39 after a five-year absence from international football.^[23] In 2014, he was named in Colombia's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, making him the oldest player at the tournament, and in World Cup history, at the age of 43, and the only squad member from the 1994 FIFA World Cup.^[24] He is also the only player to have participated in 6 different World Cup qualifying campaigns since 1993. By coming on as a substitute in the 85th minute of the final group game against Japan on 24 June 2014, he became the oldest player ever to play in a World Cup game at the age of 43 years and 3 days old, surpassing the record set by Roger Milla for Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup.^[25] Mondragón gave an interview afterwards, expressing his gratitude to have been given the opportunity to represent Colombia one last time at a World Cup.^[26] His record for oldest player in World Cup history was broken four years later at the 2018 World Cup by 45-year-old Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary. Since Mondragón's last World Cup finals appearance prior to 2014 was in 1998, he also set a record for longest gap (16 years) between two finals appearances.

After Colombia's elimination to the host country Brazil in the quarter-finals, Mondragón officially confirmed his retirement from football and thanked the fans and nation for the support after stating, "This is my last stadium as a professional player. I'm proud to be part of this wonderful group. Thank you all for the years of support.".^[27][28]

Personal life

Mondragón (2023)

Mondragón is of Lebanese descent.^[29] Mondragón was nicknamed "El Turco" ("The Turk"), a name given in Latin America to people descending from the Turkish-governed Ottoman Empire, regardless of their ethnicity.^[30] His first name Faryd means "unique or unmatched" in Arabic.^[31] He is a Maronite and has said so publicly along with making the sign of the cross on multiple occasions before matches.^[32]

Career statistics

As of 27 June 2014

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Deportivo Cali	1990	Categoría Primera A	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		0	0
	1991		1	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		1	0
	Total		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Real Cartagena	1992	Categoría Primera A	15	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		15	0
Santa Fe	1992	Categoría Primera A	2	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		2	0
Cerro Porteño (loan)	1993	Paraguayan Primera División	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	–		11	0
Argentinos Juniors	1993–94	Argentine Primera División	21	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		21	0
Independiente	1994–95	Argentine Primera División	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		0	0
Santa Fe	1995	Categoría Primera A	30	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		30	0
Independiente	1995–96	Argentine Primera División	27	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		27	0
	1996–97		33	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		33	0
	1997–98		26	1	0	0	–		0	0	–		26	1
	1998–99		17	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		17	0
	Total		103	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	103	1
Real Zaragoza	1998–99	La Liga	13	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		13	0
Independiente	1999–00	Argentine Primera División	16	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		16	0
Metz	2000–01	Ligue 1	30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	–		30	0
Galatasaray	2001–02	Süper Lig	28	0	0	0	–		12	0	–		40	0
	2002–03		32	0	1	0	–		6	0	–		39	0
	2003–04		27	0	1	0	–		8	0	–		36	0
	2004–05		34	0	4	0	–		0	0	–		38	0
	2005–06		34	0	2	0	–		2	0	–		38	0
	2006–07		30	0	3	0	–		6	0	1[a]	0	40	0
	Total		185	0	11	0	0	0	34	0	1	0	231	0
1. FC Köln	2007–08	Bundesliga	31	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		31	0
	2008–09		31	0	2	0	–		0	0	–		33	0
	2009–10		32	0	4	0	–		0	0	–		36	0
	2010–11		12	0	2	0	–		0	0	–		14	0
	Total		106	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	114	0
Philadelphia Union	2011	Major League Soccer	27	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	–		30	0
Deportivo Cali	2012	Categoría Primera A	33	0	1	0	–		0	0	–		34	0
	2013		40	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		40	0
	2014		5	0	0	0	–		5	0	–		10	0
	Total		78	0	1	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	84	0
Career total			638	1	21	0	2	0	39	0	1	0	701	1

1. Appearance in Turkish Super Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[33]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Colombia	1993	2	0
	1994	0	0
	1995	2	0
	1996	9	0
	1997	8	0
	1998	5	0
	1999	0	0
	2000	0	0
	2001	3	0
	2002	0	0
	2003	7	0
	2004	0	0
	2005	8	0
	2006	0	0
	2007	0	0
	2008	0	0
	2009	0	0
	2010	1	0
	2011	0	0
	2012	1	0
	2013	2	0
	2014	3	0
Total		51	0

Honours

Independiente

• Recopa Sudamericana: 1995
• Supercopa Libertadores: 1995

Galatasaray

• Süper Lig: 2001–02, 2005–06
• Turkish Cup: 2004–05

Deportivo Cali

• Superliga Colombiana: 2014

See also

• FIFA World Cup records

References

1. "Faryd Mondragón". footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
2. "Farid Mondragón al River Plate". 23 March 1993.
3. "La deuda telefónica de Mondragón en Paraguay y por la que quisieron retenerlo". Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
4. "Club Cerro Porteño :: Statistics :: Titles :: Titles (in-depth) :: History (Timeline) :: Goals Scored :: Fixtures :: Results :: News & Features :: Videos :: Photos :: Squad :: playmakerstats.com". www.playmakerstats.com. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
5. "Mondragón ficha por el Zaragoza". El País (in Spanish). 26 December 1998. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
6. Marzo, Daniel (17 April 2000). "El recuerdo zaragocista de una leyenda mundialista: Faryd Mondragón" [The Real Zaragoza memories of a World Cup legend: Faryd Mondragón] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
7. "FC Metz : La fureur Mondragon" [FC Metz: the Mondragón fury] (in French). Moselle Sport. 25 April 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
8. "Faux passeports : trois joueurs étrangers condamnés" [False passports: three foreign players convicted]. Le Monde (in French). 4 April 2008. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
9. "Passif de 150 MF et dépôt de bilan ?" [Liabilities of 150 million Francs and filing for bankruptcy?]. La Dépêche du Midi (in French). 23 June 2001. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
10. "Faryd Mondragón es nombrado cónsul honorario de Turquía en Colombia" [Faryd Mondragón is named honorary consul of Turkey in Colombia]. El Colombiano (in Spanish). 10 February 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
11. "Report: Faryd Mondragon Set To Leave Koeln For Philadelphia Union". Goal.com. 9 December 2010. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
12. "Mondragon verlässt den FC" [Mondragon leaves FC]. 1. FC Köln (in German). 13 December 2010. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
13. "Mondragón se vuelve a poner la verde" [Mondragon returns to put on the green]. ligapostobon.com.co (in Spanish). 30 January 2012. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
14. "Faryd Mondragon". FIFA. Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
15. "Bolivia 1997: renovación y eliminación en cuartos" [Bolivia 1997: renewal and elimination in the quarter-finals] (in Spanish). Caracol. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
16. Tim Vickery (22 April 2013). "Tim Vickery column: Veteran goalkeeper eyeing place in Rio". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
17. Jeremiah Oshan (14 March 2011). "Faryd Mondragon Provides Stability In Goal". SB Nation. Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
18. Covarrubias, Jorge (18 July 2003). "Oro: Brasil le gana a Colombia 2-0 con gol "a lo Maradona"" [Gold Cup: Brazil beat Colombia 2-0 with "Maradona-style" goal]. Laredo Morning Times (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 November 2023.
19. "México fracasó en su intento por retener la Copa de Oro" [Mexico failed in their attempt to retain the Gold Cup]. Jornada (in Spanish). 18 July 2005. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
20. "Mondragón vuelve a la selección de Colombia" [Mondragón returns to the Colombia national team]. La Voz del Interior (in Spanish). 30 September 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
21. "Mondragón confirmado como titular para enfrentar a Estados Unidos" [Mondragón confirmed as starter to face the United States] (in Spanish). Colombia.com. 11 October 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
22. "Estados Unidos y Colombia igualaron en un amistoso parejo" [United States and Colombia drew in an equal friendly] (in Spanish). ESPN. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
23. "Mondragon in Colombia roster after 5-year absence". Fox Soccer. MSN. 21 May 2014. Archived from the original on 7 October 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
24. Nick Miller (11 June 2014). "World Cup Knowledge: players who played at World Cup without a club". The Guardian. London: theguardian.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
25. "Mondragon bridging Colombian history". FIFA Official Website. 25 June 2014. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
26. "Faryd Mondragon Breaks the Old Record of the World Cup. Brazil 2014". YouTube. 25 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.^{[dead YouTube link]}
27. Liam Apicella (5 July 2014). "Faryd Mondragon announces retirement". SportsMole. Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
28. Andy Morris (5 July 2014). "World Cup record-breaker retires: Colombia goalkeeper bids farewell to football". Fanatix. Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
29. "Football: Colombian 'globetrotter' reaches end of the road at World Cup". The Straits Times. 28 May 2014. Archived from the original on 1 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
30. "Iberoamérica 03.07.2016" (in Spanish). TRT. 3 July 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
31. Eric Gomez (21 April 2011). "Breaking News: Mondragon talks MLS, Europe, Copa America". Goal.com. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
32. "Faryd Mondragón Brasil 2014". Jetset.com.co. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
33. Faryd Mondragón at National-Football-Teams.com

External links

• Faryd Mondragón at National-Football-Teams.com
• PlayMaker Stats Profile
• Argentine Primera statistics^[usurped] at Fútbol XXI (in Spanish)

Sporting positions
Preceded by Danny Califf	Philadelphia Union captain 2011	Succeeded by Carlos Valdés