Leonel Álvarez

Leonel de Jesus Alvarez Zuleta is a former professional football player from Colombia, who is known as the second most capped player in the history of Colombian international football. Born on July 30, 1965, Alvarez plays as a defensive midfielder, and is known for his intense physical defense type of performance, as well as for being one of the popular players in the team.

Alvarez started playing football when he was just quite young, however, unlike football players these days where they start playing club football when they are in their teens, Alvarez started his club career in 1983 when he joined Independiente Medellin. He stayed with the said team until 1987, until he made his transfer to Atletico Nacional. After a year with the said club, he made a few more transfers until finally he played his last few games under Deportes Quindio.

Throughout his club career Alvarez was able to transfer to many clubs including America de Cali, Real Valladolid, Dallas Burn, Veracruz, New England Revolution, and Deportivo Pereira.

As for his participation in the Colombian national team, Alvarez has a total of 101 caps until his departure in 1995, with one goal to his name.

After his retirement from professional soccer, Alvarez initially remained low key. This was before he was brought back to the limelight when he appeared in some reality shows in Colombia. Currently, he manages the club Independiente Medellin, the club he started at. However, he has held other positions such as being the technical assistant of Deportest Pereira as well as being the understudy of Santiago Escobars.