Nicolás Esteban Medina Ríos


Nicolás 'Nico' Esteban Medina Ríos is a Chilean professional footballer who plays for Andorran club FC Santa Coloma as a forward.

Club career

Born in Santiago, Medina began his football career at Club Universidad de Chile, being promoted to the first team in 2006. Also during that year, he received an offer from Real Madrid, but did not accept it because he still wanted to develop his game before making the move to Europe.
In the following summer, Medina signed with another club from Spain, CA Osasuna, in a four-year contract and a €400.000 fee. He was immediately loaned to Segunda División side SD Eibar, where he was played very rarely.
For the 2008–09 season, Medina was again loaned by the Navarrese to another team in that level, SD Huesca. He appeared slightly more than the previous campaign, contributing with three goals to the Aragonese's survival.
On 27 November 2009, Medina moved clubs again, still owned by Osasuna, joining CD Castellón in a season-long move. He definitely cut ties with the former in the 2010 winter transfer window, signing with PFC Akademik Sofia from Bulgaria.
Medina returned to his country in 2012, going on to represent Curicó Unido, Deportes Naval, San Marcos de Arica and Rangers de Talca. He scored eight goals from 34 appearances in his first season with San Marcos, helping to promotion to Primera División as champions.
On 11 August 2017, aged 30, Medina returned to Spain after signing with amateurs Villarrubia CF.

International career

Medina represented Chile at under-20 level, playing all the matches at the 2007 South American Youth Championship and netting five times as his team finished fourth and qualified for that year's FIFA U-20 World Cup. He helped the nation to the third place in the finals held in Canada, scoring in the opening game against the hosts and against the Democratic Republic of the Congo.