José Luis Villanueva

Not to be confused with Luis Villanueva, a Venezuelan television executive
José Luis Villanueva Ahumada (born November 5, 1981 in Santiago, Chile) is a former Chilean football (soccer) player. His last squad was Deportes Magallanes.

In 2001, Palestino, a first division squad in Chile, loaned him out to second division squad Temuco (7 goals) where Villanueva helped the squad gain promotion to Chile's first division. The following year instead of returning to Palestino, Villanueava once again was loaned out to second division squad Ovalle. In 2002 with Ovalle, Villanueva scored twenty goals.

After a year 2002 campaign he was called to stay with his original team in first division. Villanueva continued his goal scoring during the 2003 season with Palestino by netting 22 goals in 34 games, including Pre-Sudamericana Cup. After the season Palestino once again loaned Villanueva out, this time to Universidad Católica. From 2004 to 2005, Villanueva added 16 more goals to his career total.

Palestino sold him to Argentine Racing Club in 2005 for $600,000 dollars. In Argentina he became a fan favorite immediately. In a match versus Quilmes, Villanueva scored two goals to lead Racing Club to a 4-1 victory. With less than a minute left in the match, Villanueva was taken out. As he left the pitch, the fans could be heard chanting "shileno, shileno", just how River Plate fans had chanted for Chilean legend Marcelo Salas and Alexis Sanchez years before.

Villanueva then had spells in South Korea for Ulsan Hyundai in 2007 and in Brazil for Vasco da Gama in 2008 before moving to Uzbekistan.

He has represented the Chilean national team at the U-20 level in 2001, U-23 level during the preolympic qualifications in 2004, and has occasionally represented the adult squad since 2003.

Currently José Luis writes a very popular "opinion piece" about football in PrensaFútbol.com. He also is married with 30-year-old journalist, Fernanda Bünzli. José likes to travel around the world and he hopes he could write in the future about his experiences. He hopes to end his career with his favorite Chilean squad Universidad Católica and then study a professional career.

Club

Bunyodkor

• Uzbek League: 2008
• Uzbek Cup: 2008

Universidad Católica

• Copa Chile: 2011