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Hugo Rodallega
Personal information
Full name	Hugo Rodallega Martínez
Date of birth	25 July 1985 (age 24)
Place of birth	El Carmelo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Striker/Winger
Club information
Current club	Wigan Athletic
Number	20
Youth career
2002–2004	Boca Juniors de Cali
Senior career*
National team‡
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:37, 26 December 2009 (UTC).; † Appearances (Goals).; ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13:29, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Hugo Rodallega Martínez (born on July 25, 1985 in El Carmelo) is a Colombian footballer who plays for English Premier League club Wigan Athletic^[2].

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Upon his arrival to México, he played with Club de Fútbol Monterrey in the first season of 2006 in which he ended without much glory. He was then loaned to club F.C. Atlas A.C. for which he played the rest of 2006. For the 2007 Apertura he was transferred to Necaxa.

He finished his most successful season in the Mexican league, finishing in the top 10 goal scorers list with 9 goals in 15 games.

[edit] Wigan Athletic

On 20 December 2008, Necaxa claimed they had started negotiations to sell Hugo Rodallega Martinez to English Premier League side Wigan Athletic for €4.8 million.^[3] On 6 January, Wigan manager Steve Bruce stated that the club was close to signing the striker, as they were currently in the process of awaiting his work permit to come through.^[4]

As it turned out, Hugo's transfer fax approval came with only 5 minutes to spare before the deadline to play against Liverpool FC. With work permit in hand, Hugo played in his first Wigan game as a 77th minute substitute against Liverpool on the 28th of January 2009 at the DW Stadium. In this debut match he nearly brought 3 points to his new team, hitting the crossbar with a powerful strike from a 25 yard freekick. He scored his first goal for Wigan against West Brom on May 9, 2009 and his second in the same week against Manchester United on May 13, 2009. He then scored his third goal in the last game of the season against Portsmouth in which his club (Wigan Athletic) won 1-0 and finished in 11th place winning them an extra £8million.

[edit] 09/10 Season

In Wigan's first match of the 2009–10 season, Rodallega got the team's first goal of the season against Aston Villa in which the match ended 2–0 for Wigan. Rodallega got a crucial winner for Wigan in their 1–0 victory over West Ham on 12 September 2009 after a series of disappointing results preceding the victory. He also scored in a shock 3–1 win over Chelsea on 26 September. This was followed by a further two goals in an away win against Burnley on 24 October, which brought to an end that team's run of ten straight home victories. On 28 November 2009 he secured Wigan an important 1-0 against Sunderland with a goal in the 75th minutes. His seventh league goal of the season came against Blackburn Rovers on boxing day.

[edit] International career

Rodallega became the all time top goal scorer of the South American qualification for the FIFA U-20 World Cup when he scored 11 goals in 9 games and beat Luciano Galletti’s record of 9 goals.

Rodallega's international debut was in a friendly against Venezuela. He briefly played goalkeeper during Colombia's final tournament game at the Copa America 2007, when first string goalkeeper Robinson Zapata was given a red card and Colombia had no more available substitutes. He was able to complete the game with Colombia winning 1-0.

On 30 April 2008, Rodallega scored two goals, assisted 1 goal and got a penalty awarded for his country in a 5-2 friendly match victory over Venezuela, being hailed by many Colombians as the return of Rodagol who scored 11 goals in the Sub 20 WC qualifier tournament in 2005.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

Deportivo Cali
- Mustang Cup: 2005 (II)

[edit] International Goals - Colombia

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	June 4, 2006	Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona	Morocco	1 – 0	2 – 0	Friendly
2	February 7, 2007	Estadio General Santander, Cucuta, Colombia	Uruguay	1 – 2	1 - 3	Friendly
3	May 9, 2007	Estadio Rommel Fernandez, Panama City, Panama	Panama	3 – 0	4 – 0	Friendly
4	June 23, 2007	Estadio Metropolitano, Barranquilla, Colombia	Ecuador	2 – 1	3 – 1	Friendly
5	April 30, 2008	Estadio Alfonso Lopez, Bucaramanga, Colombia	Venezuela	1 – 0^[5]	5 - 2	Friendly
6	April 30, 2008	Estadio Alfonso Lopez, Bucaramanga, Colombia	Venezuela	4 – 2^[5]	5 - 2	Friendly
7	June 14, 2008	Estadio Monumental "U", Lima, Peru	Peru	0 – 1	1 - 1	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying
8	October 14, 2009	Defensores del Chaco, Asuncion, Paraguay	Paraguay	0 – 2	0 - 2	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying