Abel Aguilar

Italy

Aguilar was born in Bogotá. Serie A club Udinese Calcio bought his rights in the summer of 2005, from local Deportivo Cali, and loaned him immediately to fellow league team Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC due to the excess of foreign players in the roster; however, after some problems in the arrival of the transfer, the player missed pre-season training, only joining it a month into the season. Aguilar returned to Udinese in January 2006, after having never played for Ascoli, but received few playing opportunities in the following months (two league matches and the UEFA Cup 1–0 loss at RC Lens, all incomplete).

Spain

For the following three years, Aguilar was also loaned, always in the Spanish second division. He started out in January 2007 at Xerez CD, where he remained until the end of the 2007–08 campaign, always as first choice. In 2008–09, Aguilar represented Hércules CF, being a permanent fixture as the Alicante side fell three points short of a return to La Liga. On 24 July 2009 he was again loaned, now to Real Zaragoza, which in turn promoted to the top flight; he made his debut in the competition on 29 August, starting and playing 71 minutes in a 1–0 home win against CD Tenerife, and scored all his four league goals during the first two months of competition. Aguilar was released by Udinese in July 2010, immediately signing a four-year contract with former club Hércules, returned to the top division after an absence of 13 years. He appeared in 34…

Aguilar was captain of the Colombia national team at under-17 and under-20 levels. He rose to stardom as leader of the latter side that finished third at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship. Aguilar was then promoted to the senior squad for the 2004 Copa América held in Peru. There, he scored two goals, helping his country to the semi-finals. Subsequently, Aguilar returned to the under-20 (again as captain), helping them to a first-place finish at the 2005 South American Youth Cup with the consequent qualification for the World Championship of the category in the Netherlands. After helping the national team to three group-stage wins, he could not prevent a round-of-16 2–1 ousting at the ends of Argentina. Aguilar was selected by José Pekerman for his 2014 FIFA World Cup squad. He played his first-ever game in the tournament on 14 June, starting in a 3–0 group stage win against Greece which was also his 50th cap. Aguilar was also picked for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

International

Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Aguilar goal.