Alex Valera

Alex Eduardo Valera Sandoval (born 16 May 1996), better known as Alex Valera, is a Peruvian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Peruvian Liga 1 club Universitario de Deportes and the Peru national team.

Club career
Valera began his career in 2016 in Molinos El Pirata. After Pirata was eliminated from the 2017 Copa Perú, he was signed by Carlos Stein. He returned to Pirata for the 2018 Copa Perú, where he scored seven goals and played a key role in the squad that won the title and promotion to professional football. However, Valera did not stay in the team because its board preferred to sign forwards with more experience.

In 2019, he joined Deportivo Garcilaso for the 2019 Copa Perú, on request by manager Juan Carlos Bazalar, reaching the tournament's quarterfinals where Garcilaso was eliminated by Deportivo Llacuabamba. Shortly after, Valera was signed by Deportivo Llacuabamba for the final group stage of the Copa Perú, where the team finished second, thereby proceeding to the 2019 promotion play-offs, where the team also finished second, behind Atlético Grau, and was promoted to the 2020 Liga 1. He was renewed by Llacuabamba for the 2020 season and became one of the club's top scorers that year. The club ended up being relegated to the Liga 2 with three games still left to play after a 6–0 defeat against FBC Melgar.

On December 4, 2020, Valera reached a deal with Peruvian club Universitario de Deportes and joined their squad on a 1 year contract. He had been approached by other teams, including Alianza Lima, but decided to join Universitario for the opportunity to play the 2021 Copa Libertadores. Valera played his first game with Universitario on matchday 1, in a 1–1 tie against FBC Melgar, and scored his first goal on matchday 2, in a 3–1 defeat against Academia Cantolao. After an injury to Enzo Gutiérrez, he became part of the starting XI in both the Liga 1 and the Copa Libertadores, in an attacking partnership with Alberto Quintero.

On 1 August 2022, Valera joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Fateh on a three-year deal.

International career
Valera was called up to the Peru national football team for the 2021 Copa América and made his senior international debut on June 17, 2021, coming off the bench in a 4–0 defeat against Brazil.

After Peru reached fifth place and qualified for intercontinental playoff against Asia's representative Australia, Valera was substituted in 116', in which the game was dragged into the penalty shootout; during the penalty shootout, he missed the final shot in the sudden death, and thus Peru failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, losing 4–5 on penalty to Australia.


 * Scores and results list Peru's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Valera goal.

Club

 * Universitario de Deportes
 * Peruvian Primera División: 2023
 * Torneo Apertura: 2024