Julio César de León
Julio César with Genoa in 2008
Personal information
Full name Julio César de León Dailey
Date of birth (1979-09-13) 13 September 1979
Place of birth Puerto Cortes, Honduras
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Platense
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–2000 Platense 74 (18)
2000 Atlético Celaya 0 (0)
2001 Olimpia 12 (2)
2001 Deportivo Maldonado
2001–2006 Reggina 65 (5)
2004 → Fiorentina (loan) 4 (0)
2004 → Catanzaro (loan) 7 (1)
2005 → Sambenedettese (loan) 16 (8)
2005 → Avellino (loan) 12 (1)
2006 → Teramo (loan) 12 (4)
2007–2008 Genoa 50 (8)
2008–2010 Parma 32 (6)
2009–2010 → Torino (loan) 21 (3)
2010–2011 Shandong Luneng 26 (5)
2011–2012 Motagua 13 (2)
2012–2013 Messina 7 (1)
2013 Real Sociedad 11 (2)
2013–2016 Platense 18 (12)
2016 Miami United 7 (5)
2017 Municipal Limeño[1] 17[2] (2)
2017 Miami United
2017–2018 Olancho
2018–2021 Platense
2022 San Juan
2022– CD Atlético Junior
International career‡
1999–2011 Honduras 83 (14)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2 April 2017
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2 April 2017

Julio César de León Dailey (Latin American Spanish: [ˈxuljo ˈsesaɾ ðe leˈon];[lower-alpha 1] born 13 September 1979) is a Honduran professional footballer who currently plays for Olancho in the Honduran Liga Nacional de Ascenso as a midfielder. He is known for being a free-kick specialist and was an important key for the Honduras national football team.

Club career

Early career

Nicknamed Rambo, he made his debut for C.D. Platense in 1996 against Real Maya[3] of Tegucigalpa, scoring his first National Soccer League goal. His last goal in the Honduras National League was playing for Olimpia on 26 May 2001 against Club Broncos of Choluteca. Earning a good reputation in Honduras, de León moved abroad to Mexico's First Division, where he played for Atletico Celaya.[4]

After the season was over, Atletico Celaya did not renew his contract, so he returned to Honduras and became part of C.D. Olimpia of Tegucigalpa. Once he finished his one-year contract with Olimpia, he left for Uruguay where he played shortly for Deportivo Maldonado.

Reggina

From there, de León moved to Reggina of Serie B in Italy. De León started off very well for his new club. With his goals and assists, 'Rambo' helped his team to regain a place in the Italy's Serie A. Once in the first division, de León's participation was intermittent, partly due to the acquisition of the Japanese international Shunsuke Nakamura. De León was relegated to the bench, playing on and off as a substitute player.

The following seasons in Italy proved to be frustrating for "Rambo". He was sent on loan back to Serie B where he played for a number of teams, including Fiorentina, Teramo and Catanzaro. His lack of playing time continued to such degree, that he was sent to the third division or Serie C1, where he played for Sambenedettese. In 2006, 'Rambo' was requested by coach Mazzarri to come back to Reggina Calcio. De León was given a new chance, and he took it. For a while de León was considered the team's most valuable player.

Genoa

However, on 16 January 2007, De León was transferred by Reggina Calcio again, this time in a permanent deal to Genoa of Serie B, for €3.2 million,[5] along with Filippo Carobbio (co-ownership), hoping that his services would help the team to regain a spot in the Serie A. The fans of Reggina disapproved of the sale of de León, in a time when the team really needed his talent. But the president of the team, Lillo Foti, justified the sale with economic reasons: "The offer was good and it was something that we could not refuse.".[6]

On 10 June 2007, de León's new team, Genoa, did regain a spot in Serie A, tying at home with Napoli 0–0. After this, his last game of the season, and some subsequent celebrations, de León quickly traveled to Houston, Texas where the Honduras national team would play Cuba on 13 June 2007. He helped Honduras reach the quarter-finals of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Parma

He was awarded the 'Player of the Season' award by Genoa. but eventually sold to Parma of Serie B, for €2.9 million,;[5][7] Parma player Andrea Gasbarroni (€2M)[5] and Magnus Troest (50% rights for €1.5M) moved to opposite side as part of the deal. His Genoa team-mate Alessandro Lucarelli (€1.2M)[5] also joined the Emilia–Romagna side.

He scored his first goal for the team on 28 November 2008 after a perfectly executed free kick to the corner. Then, he made his second and third goals against Grosseto on 14 February 2009 in Parma's 4–0 victory. He scored his fourth goal for the club on 17 March 2009 against A.C. Mantova in the 82nd minute to put Parma up 1–0 and eventually win the match. His fifth goal was a long-range free kick effort against Pisa F.C. to make the match 2–0 and almost guarantee promotion for Parma into Serie A of Italy. On 16 May 2009, Julio César de León celebrated the fifth promotion of his career, this time with Parma FC. He finished the season with a total of six goals and also contributed several assists, which proved vital for their return to Serie A.

After having not played for Parma in the first two games, on 28 August 2009, he was loaned to Torino in the Serie B along with Manuel Coppola, as part of Nicola Amoruso deal.[8] He missed the promotion playoffs of Toro due to international call-up.

From Shandong Luneng to Messina to Real Sociedad

At the start of 2010–11 Serie A he was sold to Shandong Luneng for just €775.[9] In the 2011–2012 season he has played for F.C. Motagua. In 2012, he played for Messina in the Italian Serie D[10] and then moved to newly promoted C.D. Real Sociedad in Honduras.

International career

De León played at the 1999 World Youth Cup and made his senior debut for Honduras in a May 1999 friendly match against Haiti. As of December 2012, he has earned a total of 83 caps, scoring 14 goals. He has represented his country in 34 FIFA World Cup qualification matches[11] and played at the 2003 UNCAF Nations Cup[12] as well as at the 2000,[13] 2003[14] and 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cups.,[15]

De León also competed for Honduras at the 1999 Pan American Games and 2000 Summer Olympics.[16] and he also was part of the memorable squad in 2001 that defeated Brazil 2–0 and came third in the Copa América.[17]

On 20 August 2008 he scored an excellent goal against Mexico to make the score 1–0 for Honduras in the first half of the match, but this goal wasn't enough to draw Pável Pardo's two goals that he scored later in the game. However, shortly after, on October, 2008, 'Rambo' was excluded from the squad by head coach Reinaldo Rueda due to injury. Julio César de León announced he was returning to Italy shortly after arriving in Miami, Florida to join the National Team for the match against Canada. Upon arrival, he lashed out against the National Team for being malequipped to treat an injury that he had conjured in Italy. The coach had a discussion with him in the hotel and he was sent back on another plane shortly after. After long amounts of speculation, he returned to the squad in February, 2009 where he had not been reported to have any problems since.

De León was originally named in the 23-men final 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, but on 15 June, one day before the opening match of Honduras, had to pull out due to injury and was replaced by Jerry Palacios, who he was given the opportunity to play alongside his two brothers.[18]

International goals

Scores and results list Honduras' goal tally first.
N.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.16 December 1999Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras Zambia3–07–1Friendly match
2.17 June 2000Stade Sylvio Cator, Port-au-Prince, Haiti Haiti3–13–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.28 March 2001Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras United States1–11–22002 FIFA World Cup qualification
4.11 February 2003Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City, Panama Nicaragua2–02–02003 UNCAF Nations Cup
5.15 July 2003Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico Brazil1–21–22003 CONCACAF Gold Cup
6.18 February 2004Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa, Honduras Colombia1–01–1Friendly match
7.18 August 2004Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica Costa Rica2–15–22006 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.7 October 2006Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, United States Guatemala2–23–2Friendly match
9.12 September 2007Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras Ecuador2–12–1Friendly match
10.4 June 2008Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras Puerto Rico1–04–02010 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.20 August 2008Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico Mexico1–01–22010 FIFA World Cup qualification
12.10 October 2009Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras United States1–02–32010 FIFA World Cup qualification
13.10 October 2009Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras United States2–32–32010 FIFA World Cup qualification
14.27 May 2010Stadion Villach Lind, Villach, Austria Belarus1–02–2Friendly match

Honours

Club

C.D. Platense

Shandong Luneng

Notes

  1. ↑ In isolation, De León is pronounced [de leˈon].

References

  1. ↑ "El Gráfico".
  2. ↑ "Julio César León :: Julio César de León Dailey ::".
  3. ↑ Rambo, el ídolo que vuelve a Puerto Cortés – Diez (in Spanish)
  4. ↑ Honduras al negocio de la exportación Archived 21 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine – El Diario de Hoy (in Spanish)
  5. 1 2 3 4 Genoa CFC Report and Accounts on 31 December 2008 (in Italian)
  6. ↑ "Genoa, Leon per cominciare". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 17 January 2007. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  7. ↑ "Parma, colpo Leon Ora Lucarelli jr". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 28 June 2008. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  8. ↑ "Coppola e Leon al Toro" (in Italian). Torino F.C. 28 August 2009. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012.
  9. ↑ Parma FC Report and Account on 30 June 2011 (in Italian)
  10. ↑ El Messina presenta a Rambo de León – Diez (in Spanish)
  11. ↑ Julio César de León – FIFA competition record (archived)
  12. ↑ Qualifying Tournament for Gold Cup 2003 – Details. Archived 26 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine – RSSSF.
  13. ↑ CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2000 – Full Details – RSSSF
  14. ↑ CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2003 – Full Details. Archived 24 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine – RSSSF.
  15. ↑ CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2007 – Full Details. Archived 24 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine – RSSSF.
  16. ↑ "Julio César de León Biography and Statistics". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  17. ↑ Copa América 2001. Archived 19 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine – RSSSF.
  18. ↑ "Injured De Leon out of World Cup". concacaf. Mbombela, South Africa. 15 June 2010. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
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