Black History Month Players: Enner Valencia

  As October is Black History Month in the UK, I will spend this month publishing threads on X (formerly Twitter) on certain players who have been part of a long and distinguished line of Black representation at West Ham United. With this being the second year I have undertaken this exercise, I thought it would be fair to publish a blog post for those who don't have X or find threads on the platform difficult to read. Feel free to read last year's threads, via this link. With West Ham playing Everton this afternoon, today's post and thread on X is on a player who has played for both clubs, Enner Valencia, who is also the only player to still be playing professional football in this series. 

Born in Esmeraldas in North-West Ecuador on the 4th of November 1989, Valencia grew up in a poor rural family of Afro-Ecuadorian descent, a reality shared far too often by those of Afro-Ecuadorian descent. To put this into some context, Afro-Ecuadorians make up about 5% of Ecuador’s population. However, they’re a significant ethnicity due to their place in Ecuador’s culture, as Afro-Ecuadorians make up the bulk of the country’s football team, but are often discriminated against. As Ecuador’s population is predominantly made up of those from white Mestizos, who are of European descent, there is still an overhang of colonialism in the country, as ethnic minorities are excluded as they don’t fit into the national identity that Mestizos are creating. Therefore, Afro-Ecuadorians are excluded & treated like second-class citizens. But thanks to the great research of Enrico Castro-Montes, who is writing his PhD at the University of Leuven in Belgium on this very subject, he shows that Afro-Ecuadorians have created their own place in Ecuador’s national identity through football. And this is what obviously draws many Afro-Ecuadorians to football, including Valencia, as it gives them a voice and an inclusion in Ecuador’s national identity that the Mestizo elite have tried to take away from them.

Having played his youth football with Caribe Juniors, Valencia would turn pro with Emelec in 2008 at the age of 18. Due to coming from a poor family, Valencia struggled at first, living in basic lodgings at the stadium as he couldn’t afford to stay elsewhere & struggled to afford food too. But to achieve his dream, Valencia struggled and his determination would play off, when in 2010, Valencia made his debut with Emelec & never looked back. He would finish runners-up in the Ecuadorian Serie A in his first season. In his 3 years with Emelec, he would score 27 goals in 130 games, helping the club win the league title in 2013. 

During his time with Emelec, Valencia would win his first cap for Ecuador in 2012. Since then, Valencia has earned 81 caps for his country, scoring 35 goals, making him the country’s all-time leading goal scorer and since he is still playing, he still has time to add to both. During his international career, Valencia has represented Ecuador at four Copa America Tournaments between 2015-2021, with Valencia no doubt adding a 5th tournament to that list at next year's Copa America and two World Cups in 2014 and 2022, where Valencia holds the records for the most goals scored by Ecuador at a World cup with six which also is part of his second record, with Valencia being the first South American player to score six consecutive goals at a World Cup. Whether Valencia will still be playing for the national team when the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico takes place remains to be seen, but it's fair to say that if he is, he'll no doubt increase this tally. 

In late 2013, Valencia would leave Emelec to join Mexican side Pachuca, where Valencia's goalscoring record was astonishing, scoring 18 goals in 23 games, which in partnership with his appearance at the 2014 World cup, attracting attention from European clubs, with West Ham winning the race for the striker for a fee around £12 million. 

Signed for the club in July 2014, Valencia admittedly knew little about West Ham par the fact they’re the main club featured in the 2005 film Green Street, which honestly isn’t the best advert for the club. In 2 years with the club, Valencia would only score 10 goals in 68 games. Despite not hitting the heights of his spell at Pachuca, his time at West Ham is remembered for his first-ever goal for the club against Hull City in September 2014, which honestly might be one of the best goals you’ll ever see. You can actually watch all 10 goals of Valencia's goals for the club in the video below, with the goal in question saved until the end as you always save the best until last. 

In 2016, Valencia would spend a year on loan with Everton, but could only score 3 goals in 23 games. After 3 underwhelming years in England, Valencia left West Ham permanently in 2017 and returned to Mexico where he rediscovered his scoring abilities, with 34 goals in 118 games for Tigres in a 3-year spell with the club. 

During his time with Tigres, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world hard in 2020 and as someone who had grown up with very little, Valencia took this as an opportunity to give something back to those who were now struggling themselves. In his home country of Ecuador, Valencia donated 300 food kits to low-income households in his home city of Esmeraldas & the wider Esmeraldas region. He also donated 14,000 face masks to ensure infection couldn’t spread & people were fed during the pandemic. After the pandemic restrictions began to lift in the summer of 2020, Valencia moved to Turkey and joined one of the biggest and most successful clubs in Fenerbahçe, where he made 116 appearances for the Turkish side and scored 59 goals in all competitions in a 3-year spell, with his best season at the club coming last season when Valencia scored 33 goals in 48 games, also winning the Super Lig's (Turkey's equivalent to the Premier League) top scorer award with 29 goals. Whilst many wanted Valencia to stay in Turkey, he instead decided to return to South America, joining Brazilian side Internacional this summer on a deal that lasts until the 2026 World Cup and has so far scored 7 goals in 18 games in all competitions at the time of writing. 

And so, for a man who came from very little in a country that discriminated against him and his family, Valencia has become of Ecuador’s best exports in recent years. His willingness to give back to people, as shown by his actions during the pandemic are testament to a man who hasn’t forgotten where he came from & how he’s survived to achieve his dream and as he approaches his 34th birthday and enters the twilight of his career, it’s fair to assume that he’ll be remembered as an icon of Ecuadorian football when he retires in the next few years. 

Once again, thanks for reading today’s Post

Firstly, I just want to give a shout-out to Enrico Castro-Montes, who educated me during an academic Sports History conference in Leicester last summer about Afro-Ecuadorian representation in football. I hope I’ve done your research some justice in this post. 

Additionally, here is the article on Valencia’s charitable contributions during the pandemic: https://www.world-today-news.com/enner-valencia-donates-300-food-kits-to-families-in-esmeraldas/