James Rod
James David Rodríguez Rubio (born 12 July 1991) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Atlético Nacional. During the decade from 2009 to 2019, various performance analyses and statistical models in European football positioned Rodríguez the best attacking midfielder in the world, and he is widely considered one of the greatest players in Colombian history. During that decade, across Europe's top five leagues, Rodríguez established himself as the midfielder with the highest average of goals and assists, as well as the highest volume of accurate passes in the final third. In 2014, the International Centre for Sports Studies ranked him as the second-best attacking midfielder in Europe.
After debuting with Envigado, Rodríguez's early breakthrough occurred in 2009 with Banfield, where he became the youngest foreign player to debut, score, and win a championship in the Argentine league, contributing to the club's first league title in its 113-year history. In 2010, he joined Porto, winning six titles, including the UEFA Europa League, and received the Portuguese Golden Ball in 2012. He subsequently moved to Monaco in 2013, finishing the Ligue 1 season as the top assist provider and being named to the Team of the Year.
Following his transfer to Real Madrid in 2014, Rodríguez recorded 13 goals and 12 assists in 29 appearances during his debut season, earning the official La Liga Best Midfielder award. In his following two seasons at the club, he lifted several trophies, including a La Liga and two UEFA Champions League titles. Rodríguez was then sent on loan to Bayern Munich in 2017, where he was subsequently named to the Bundesliga Team of the Season and recognized among the league's best midfielders. After a brief return to Madrid, Rodríguez signed for Premier League club Everton in the summer of 2020 on a free transfer, where he stayed for one season. He has since had short stints at various clubs, including Al-Rayyan in Qatar, Olympiacos in Greece, São Paulo in Brazil, Rayo Vallecano in Spain, León in Mexico, and Minnesota United in the United States.
Rodríguez began his senior international career in 2011, debuting for Colombia at the age of 20. With 131 caps, he is the nation's record appearance holder. He was part of Colombia's squads at the FIFA World Cup in 2014, 2018 and 2026; in 2014, he won the tournament's Golden Boot and was included in the All-Star Team, helping Colombia reach the quarter-finals for the first time. His round of 16 volley against Uruguay was also voted Goal of the Tournament and went on to win the FIFA Puskás Award for the best goal of 2014, marking the first time a World Cup goal received this accolade. Rodríguez additionally represented his nation at the Copa América in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2024, winning a third-place medal in 2016 and reaching the final in 2024, the latter in which he set the record for most assists in a single edition and received the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player. Rodríguez is currently the second-highest assist provider in the history of CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup qualifiers as well, trailing only Brazil's Neymar.
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