Antony de Ávila

Antony de Ávila

Personal information
Full name	Antony William de Ávila Charris
Date of birth	(1962-12-21) December 21, 1962
Place of birth	Santa Marta, Colombia
Height
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1983–1987	América de Cali	470 (total)	(201)
1987–1988	Unión de Santa Fe	37	(17)
1988–1995	América de Cali	(see above)
1996–1997	MetroStars	31	(15)
1997–1999	Barcelona SC	52	(27)
2009	América de Cali	9	(2)
International career
1983–1998	Colombia	53	(13)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is De Ávila and the second or maternal family name is Charris.

Antony William de Ávila Charris (born December 21, 1962 in Santa Marta, Colombia) is a Colombian former soccer striker, who last played for América de Cali.

Career

De Ávila spent his career with four clubs: América de Cali in his native Colombia, the MetroStars of Major League Soccer, Unión de Santa Fe of Argentina and Barcelona SC of Ecuador. His 25 goals for América in 1990 led Colombia.

De Ávila's MLS career spanned a season and a half, as he joined the Metros midway through the 1996 season as a replacement for colossal disappointment Rubén Darío Hernández. With the club playing on AstroTurf for parts of the season, El Pitufo was surprisingly adept at what was called "ping-pong soccer". He scored 15 goals and added 11 assists in his time in the league, plus another two goals and an assist in the playoffs.

De Ávila retired in 1999, but returned to competitive football at the age of 46 with América de Cali, eventually finishing his career with a club record 208 goals. His 29 goals in the Copa Libertadores ranked him sixth highest scorer in the history of the tournament.

International career

De Ávila also scored 13 in 54 appearances for the Colombia national team between 1983 and 1998. He played for his country in the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cups. De Ávila made his senior debut on July 26, 1983.

International goals

Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	27 June 1989	Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, United States	Haiti	4–0	4–0	Friendly
2.	3 July 1989	Estádio Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil	Venezuela	3–0	4–2	1989 Copa América
3.	3 February 1991	Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, United States	Switzerland	2–0	2–3	1991 Miami Cup
4.	25 June 1991	Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	1–0	1–0	Friendly
5.	7 July 1991	Estadio Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile	Ecuador	1–0	1–0	1991 Copa América
6.	13 July 1991	Estadio Sausalito, Viña del Mar, Chile	Brazil	1–0	2–0
7.	21 July 1991	Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos, Santiago, Chile	Argentina	1–2	1–2
8.	31 March 1993	Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Medellín, Colombia	Costa Rica	2–0	4–1	Friendly
9.	17 April 1994	Estadio Centenario, Armenia, Colombia	Nigeria	1–0	1–0
10.	5 May 1994	Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, United States	El Salvador	2–0	3–0	1994 Miami Cup
11.	7 July 1996	Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, Barranquilla, Colombia	Uruguay	3–1	3–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
12.	20 July 1997		Ecuador	1–0	1–0
13.	20 August 1997		Bolivia	1–0	3–0

Personal

Nicknamed El Pitufo ("The Smurf") or El Pipa, he was known as much for his short height of 1.57m (5 ft 3 in) as for his goal-scoring prowess.

External links

• Antony de Ávila at National-Football-Teams.com