Rafael Valek

Valek signed for Independiente Santa Fe as the club won the first Fútbol Profesional Colombiano title in 1948. He joined rivals Millonarios where he played mostly as a reserve from 1948 to 1952. He would win four more Colombian league titles with Millonarios.^[4]

In 1953, Valek became the first Colombian to play professional football in Europe, although he signed as a Czechoslovak player through his parents' ancestry, with Italian Serie A side Genoa. Then, he would move to Mexico where he played for Oro, Celaya and Irapuato.^[5] In 1958, he finished his playing career with Cúcuta Deportivo.^[6]

Valek was born in Bogotá on 18 December 1932. He was one of 9 children of Czech father Jan Válek and Colombian María Cristina Moure Bello. He was brother of Colombian Captain Vladimir Valek Moure, who died during the Korean War on the 22 May 1951.^[7] While Valek, as the rest of his siblings, was born in Colombia, later in his life he reclaimed his Czech nationality. He was married three times and had nine children. For unknown reasons and a supposedly jealousy incident by his wife in Mexico and some political comments he made, he was deported from Mexico and banned for life.^[8] Valek died in Pasto, Colombia on 17 June 2013.^[9]