Julian Quiñones at the 2026 World Cup: The Colombian who conquered Mexico

NNobody knows what turn the life of Julián Andrés Quiñones Quiñones, 29, would have taken if he had given in to a false sense of shame. He was 16 years old and had traveled with four other children from his Colombian hometown of Magüi Payán, a community of 18,000 in the Nariño department, to Cali to audition for a club called Fútbol Paz FC.

He felt ashamed because when he looked down at his feet, he saw his toes sticking out of his tattered shoes. But he performed, impressed and sparked debate: whether one should really pay 20 million pesos, roughly $5,000, for the rights to the player, that was the question. A good dozen years later, the market value of the quinone, which was naturalized in Mexico years ago, is again approaching the 20 million mark. Just not in pesos, but in dollars.

Quiñones has become one of the stories of the World Cup. The response that the striker creates is likely to increase if he adds to his four direct goal involvements against England on Sunday at the Estadio Azteca. Quiñones scored the first goal of the World Cup in the opening game (Mexico beat South Africa 2-0), he scored against the Czechs and provided another goal and an assist against the DFB conquerors Ecuador. He only came away empty-handed in the 1-0 win against South Korea; However, it was also the Mexicans’ only appearance outside the capital. In Mexico City he acts as if the Azteca gods had adopted him.

The reason why they signed and trained him at Fútbol Paz was because they saw “an overwhelming personality” on the pitch. All it took was a little tweaking and it was already on the export list.

He flew to Nueva León, Mexico. Because he was not allowed to leave the country alone as a minor, his mother Gloria was on the plane with him. Quiñones was assigned to the Tigres’ second team; loaned to FC Venados from Yucatán and Lobos BUAP from Puebla; then the breakthrough occurred. He led Tigres, Atlas – who had not been champions for 70 years – and finally Club América to titles. He has been playing in the Saudi league for al-Qadsiah for two years, and this season he was top scorer with 33 goals, ahead of Ivan Toney (32) and Cristiano Ronaldo (28). Considering that his options for triumphing in life in Magüi Payán were limited by economic circumstances, this was an optimal return.

Quiñones dealt with the resentment matter-of-factly

Anyone born there “will either become a footballer or a guerrilla or a drug dealer,” said Fabio Marín, Quiñones’ manager, to the TV station ESPN. Quiñones explained in an interview a few years ago that as a 13-year-old he began diving into a mountain tunnel like his elders, in the always-disappointing search for gold. It was a dangerous undertaking and collapses kept happening. But if he were still in his tin shack hometown, he would probably try his luck underground.

But now he has long been established in the Mexican national team, after a process that was anything but easy. Mexico is a deeply chauvinistic country, and in football it embodies this trait in that there is, to say the least, massive skepticism towards “naturalized” players. Also towards Quiñones, who decided to play for Mexico and not for Colombia in 2023 – and was also subjected to racist hostility afterwards, for example in a game between América and Chivas in March 2024.

“He will never be Mexican,” said a coach named Benjamín Mora; Quiñones’ culture, personality, roots and “race” made that impossible, he said. Quiñones countered matter-of-factly. There are many Mexicans who are heading to the USA with the hope of a better life; he didn’t do anything else when he went to Mexico. And: He’s not there to feed mouths, Quiñones said recently, “if I didn’t say anything when I was criticized, I certainly won’t do that now.” Because now he’s floating on top.

This is surprising given that earlier this year there was gossip in the industry that coach Javier “El Vasco” Aguirre didn’t get along with Quiñones. Nonsense, the coach said, you could ask Quiñones at the next opportunity. These debates are over. An entire country agrees with Aguirre when he now says that Quiñones is “the most powerful player we have.”

The data also shows this. In the game against Ecuador, he ran almost nine kilometers – and, according to data collection by the world association Fifa, did 47 sprints. That was well above the average offered by the World Cup participants. For the Mexicans, only one player, defender Jorge Sánchez, pushed the pace more often (66 times). In the same game, Quiñones showed how confident he is in finishing. He only shot at goal once, at the end of an electrifying scene: after a theoretically tiring tempo run across half the field, he made a mistake, made an artificial break – and chased the ball into the left corner from 14 meters. “He understands the game very well,” says Aguirre. Now he should show that at home against England.