| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Julio César de León Dailey | ||
| Date of birth | 13 September 1979 | ||
| Place of birth | Puerto Cortes, Honduras | ||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Attacking midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Shandong Luneng | ||
| Number | 17 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1996–2000 | Platense | 74 | (18) |
| 2000–2001 | FC Celaya | 0 | (0) |
| 2001 | Olimpia | 12 | (2) |
| 2001–2007 | Reggina | 65 | (5) |
| 2002–2003 | → Fiorentina (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | → Catanzaro (loan) | 7 | (1) |
| 2005 | → Sambenedettese (loan) | 18 | (8) |
| 2005–2006 | → Teramo (loan) | 12 | (1) |
| 2006 | → Avellino (loan) | 12 | (4) |
| 2007–2008 | Genoa | 21 | (4) |
| 2008–2010 | Parma | 32 | (6) |
| 2009–2010 | → Torino (loan) | 21 | (3) |
| 2010– | Shandong Luneng | 23 | (5) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1999– | Honduras | 76 | (15) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:01, 17 July 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Julio César de León Dailey is a Honduran footballer who plays for Shandong Luneng Taishan in the Chinese Super League. He is known for being a free-kick specialist and he is an important key for the Honduras National Football Team.
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Nicknamed "Rambo", he debuted for Platense in 1996 against Real Maya of Tegucigalpa, scoring his first National Soccer League goal. His last goal in the Honduran National League was playing for Olimpia on 26 May 2001 against Club Broncos of Choluteca.
Earning a good reputation in Honduras, de León moved to Mexico's First Division, where he played for Atletico Celaya.
After the season was over, Atletico Celaya did not renew de León's contract, so he returned to Honduras and became part of Olimpia of Tegucigalpa.
Once Julio César finished his one year contract with Olimpia, he left for Uruguay where he played for Deportivo Maldonado.
From there, de León moved to Reggina of Serie B in Italy.
De León started off very well for his new club. With his goals and assists, 'Rambo' helped his team to regain a place in the Italy's Serie A.
Once in the first division, de León's participation was intermittent, partly due to the acquisition of the Japanese international Shunsuke Nakamura. De León was relegated to the bench, playing on and off as a substitute player.
The following seasons in Italy proved to be frustrating for "Rambo". He was sent on loan back to Serie B where he played for a number of teams, including Fiorentina, Teramo and Catanzaro.
His lack of playing time continued to such degree, that he was sent to the third division or Serie C1, where he played for Sambenedettese.
In 2006, 'Rambo' was requested by coach Mazzarri to come back to Reggina Calcio. De León was given a new chance, and he took it. For a while de León was considered the team's most valuable player.
However, on 16 January 2007, De León was transferred by Reggina Calcio once again, this time in a permanent deal to Genoa of Serie B, along with Filippo Carobbio (co-ownership), hoping that his services would help the team to regain a spot in the Serie A.
The fans of Reggina disapproved of the sale of de León, in a time when the team really needed Julio César's talent. But the president of the team, Lillo Foti, justified the sale with economic reasons: "The offer was good and it was something that we could not refuse." It was reported that Genoa offered Reggina US$7M.[1]
On 10 June 2007, de León's new team, Genoa, did regain a spot in Serie A, tying at home with Napoli 0–0. After this, his last game of the season, and some subsequent celebrations, de León quickly traveled to Houston, Texas where the Honduran national team would play Cuba on 13 June 2007. He helped Honduras reach the quarterfinals of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
He was awarded the 'Player of the Season' award by Genoa. but eventually sold to Parma of Serie B,[2] and Andrea Gasbarroni moved to opposite side as part of the deal. His Genoa team-mate Alessandro Lucarelli also joined the Emilia–Romagna side.
He scored his first goal for the team on 28 November 2008 after a perfectly executed free kick to the corner. Then, he made his second and third goals against Grosseto on 14 February 2009 in Parma's 4–0 victory.
He scored his fourth goal for the club on 17 March 2009 against A.C. Mantova in the 82nd minute to put Parma up 1–0 and eventually win the match.
His fifth goal was a long-range free kick effort against Pisa F.C. to make the match 2–0 and almost guarantee promotion for Parma into Serie A of Italy.
On May 16, 2009, Julio César de León celebrated the fifth promotion of his career, this time with Parma FC. He finished the season with a total of six goals and also contributed several assists, which proved vital for their return to Serie A.
After having not played for Parma in the first two games, on August 28, 2009, he was loaned to Torino in the Serie B along with Manuel Coppola, as part of Nicola Amoruso deal.[3] He missed the promotion playoffs of Toro due to international call-up.
'Rambo' began playing for the Honduran National Team in 1999 and has been part of the squad ever since. He formed part of the memorable squad in 2001 that defeated Brazil 2–0 and came third in the Copa America. He has made 66 appearances for the team and has scored 12 goals.
On 20 August 2008 he scored an excellent goal against Mexico to make the score 1–0 for Honduras in the first half of the match, but this goal wasn't enough to draw Pável Pardo's two goals that he scored later in the game.
However, shortly after, on October, 2008, 'Rambo' was excluded from the squad by head coach Reinaldo Rueda due to injury. However, there has been lots of controversy about this decision. Julio César de León announced he was returning to Italy shortly after arriving in Miami, Florida to join the National Team for the match against Canada. Upon arrival, he lashed out against the National Team for being malequipped to treat an injury that he had conjured in Italy. The coach had a discussion with him in the hotel and he was sent back on another plane shortly after.
After long amounts of speculation, he returned to the squad in February, 2009 where he had not been reported to have any problems since.
De León also competed for Honduras at the 2000 Summer Olympics.[4]
De León originally in the 23-men final 2010 FIFA World Cup squad, but on 15 June, one day before the opening match of Honduras, pulled out due to injury and replaced by Jerry Palacios, where he was given the opportunity to play alongside his two brothers.[5]
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ? | 17 June 2000 | Stade Sylvio Cator, Port au Prince, Haiti | Haiti | 3 – 1 | 3–1 | 2002 World Cup qualifiers |
| ? | 28 March 2001 | Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras | United States | 1 – 1 | 1–2 | 2002 World Cup qualifiers |
| ? | 11 February 2003 | Estadio Nacional de Panamá, Panama City, Panama | Nicaragua | ? | 2–0 | UNCAF Nations Cup 2003 |
| ? | 18 August 2004 | Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica | Costa Rica | 2 – 1 | 5–2 | 2006 World Cup qualifiers |
| ? | 7 October 2006 | Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, United States | Guatemala | 2 – 2 | 3–2 | Friendly |
| ? | 12 September 2007 | Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras | Ecuador | 2 – 1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 11 | 4 June 2008 | Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras | Puerto Rico | 1 – 0 | 4–0 | 2010 World Cup qualifiers |
| 12 | 20 August 2008 | Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico | Mexico | 1 – 0 | 1–2 | 2010 World Cup qualifiers |
| 13 | 10 October 2009 | Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras | United States | 1 – 0 | 2–3 | 2010 World Cup qualifiers |
| 14 | 10 October 2009 | Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras | United States | 2 – 3 | 2–3 | 2010 World Cup qualifiers |
| 15 | 27 May 2010 | Stadion Lind, Villach, Austria | Belarus | 1 – 0 | 2–2 | Friendly |
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