José Luis Villanueva


José Luis Villanueva Ahumada is a Chilean former footballer. His last squad was Deportes Magallanes.

Second Division in Chile

In 2001, side Palestino loaned Villanueva out to second division squad Temuco, where he scored seven goals and helped the club gain promotion to the first division. The following year, instead of returning to Palestino, Villanueva was again loaned out, this time to second division club Deportes Ovalle. In 2002, Villanueva scored 20 goals with Ovalle.

Palestino

After the 2002 campaign, Villanueva was called to stay with his original team in first division. Villanueva continued his goal-scoring during the 2003 season with Palestino by scoring 22 goals in 34 matches, including in the Pre-Sudamericana Cup. After the season, Palestino once again loaned Villanueva out, this time to Universidad Católica. From 2004 to 2005, Villanueva scored 16 more goals.

Out of Chile

Palestino sold him to Argentine side Racing Club in 2005 for $600,000, immediately becoming a fan favourite. In a match against 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 substituted off. 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 and Alexis Sánchez years prior.
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

Villanueva has represented Chile internationally at the under-20 level in 2001 and under-23 level during the preolympic qualifications in 2004, and has occasionally represented the adult squad since 2003.

Personal life

Villanueva currently writes a popular "opinion piece" about football in . He also is married with 30-year-old journalist, Fernanda Bünzli. He 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 Católica and then study a professional career.

Honours

Club

;Bunyodkor
;Universidad Católica