José Luis Villanueva

Football player infobox
playername = "José Luis Villanueva"


fullname = José Luis Villanueva Ahumada
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1981|11|5|mf=y
cityofbirth = Santiago
countryofbirth = Chile
height = height|meters =1.76
currentclub = FC Bunyodkor
clubnumber = 17
position = Forward
youthyears =
youthclubs = Palestino
years = 2001–2003
2001
2002
2004
2004–2005
2005–2006
2006
2007
2008
2008–
clubs = Palestino
→ Temuco "(on loan)"
→ Ovalle "(on loan)"
Cobreloa
Universidad Católica
Racing Club
Morelia
Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i
Vasco
FC Bunyodkor
caps(goals) = 031 (22)
012 0(7)
034 (20)
014 0(1)
032 (14)
031 0(7)
016 0(4)
003 0(1)
005 0(0)
009 0(9)
nationalyears = 2003-2006
nationalteam = Chile
nationalcaps(goals) = 004 0(0)
pcupdate = July 25, 2008
ntupdate = December 24, 2007

José Luis Villanueva Ahumada (born November 5, 1981 in Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean foward, who currently plays for the Uzbek club FC Bunyodkor.

As a young boy, Villanueva admired the popular Chilean club Colo-Colo. Villanueva stated that during the 1991 Copa Libertadores, which Colo-Colo won, he attended almost every Colo-Colo game. However it was not Colo-Colo which gave him his start, it was Palestino where he was part of the youth squad until 2001.

Second Division in Chile

In 2001, Palestino, a squad in Chile, loaned him out to second division squad Temuco (7 goals) where Villanueva helped the squad gain promotion to Chile's first division. The following year instead of returning to Palestino, Villanueava once again was loaned out to second division squad Ovalle. In 2002 with Ovalle, Villanueva scored twenty goals.

Palestino

After an impressive 2002 campaign he finally was called to stay with his original team in first division. Villanueava continued his goal scoring habits during the 2003 season with Palestino by netting 22 goals in 34 games) including Pre-Sudamericana Cup. After the season Palestino once again loaned Villanueva out, this time to Universidad Católica. From 2004 to 2005, Villanueva added 16 more goals to his career total.

Out of Chile

Palestino sold him to Argentine Racing Club in 2005 for $600,000 dollars. In Argentina he became a fan favorite immediately. In a match versus Quilmes, Villanueva scored two goals to lead Racing Club to a 4-1 victory. With less than a minute left in the match, Villanueva was taken out. As he left the pitch, the fans could be heard chanting "shileno, shileno," just how River Plate fans had chanted for Chilean legend Marcelo Salas years before.

Villanueva then had spells in South Korea for Ulsan Hyundai in 2007 and in Brazil for Vasco da Gama in 2008 before moving to Uzbekistan.

International career

He has represented the Chilean national team at the Sub-20 level in 2001, Sub-23 level during the preolympic qualifications in 2004, and has ocassionally represented the adult squad since 2003.

Personal life

Currently Jose Luis writes a very popular "opinion piece" about football in [http://www.prensafutbol.cl PrensaFútbol.com] . He also is engaged with 26 years old journalist, Fernanda Bünzli.Jose likes to travel around the world and he hopes he could write in the future about his experiences. He hopes to end his career with his favorite Chilean squad Universidad Catolica and then study a professional career.