From the rich and numerous quarry of Deportivo Cali came Danny Quendambú, a fast man from Tumaque, who made his debut as a striker in the first sugar team and then began to ramble through the fields of Colombia and the world.
With passage through Pereira, Pasto, Unión Magdalena and Cortuluá, Quendambú also went through teams from Costa Rica (he played with Paulo César Wanchope in Herediano, in 2006) and played in Peru (Cultural Santa Rosa), Venezuela (Carabobo) and even in Norway .
But the story of this 38-year-old from Tumaque changed him in 2011, when he was invited to represent Equatorial Guinea and was one step away from playing the African Cup of Nations. He stayed in that African country and developed his career.
“When I was in Colombia, we were contacted by Ruslang Obiang, who was then the Minister of Sports (his father is Teodoro Obiang, current president). Equatorial Guinea was about to host the 2012 African Cup of Nations. Rolan de la Cruz, Fernelly Castillo and I came. Since that time I stayed at The Panthers club (2011-2016), in 2017 I went to Peru and in 2019 I returned to play for Akonangui FC, the club with the most fans in the country, ”Danny told FUTBOLRED.
“I scored about 30 goals in Guinea. I almost always played as ’10’. My thing was to assist my colleagues. I played until 2020 until the covid stopped everything. So one day I was at home, in the midst of a pandemic, and I began to write a draft television program, bearing in mind that in Equatorial Guinea almost all sports programs have the same format. I felt that a space was needed where there was greater recognition of the figures, ”said Danny Jair.
He was inspired by the Colombian ‘youtuber’ Polibamba, and took his idea to a television format “in which we are going to highlight the athlete, make that other side of the athlete known and we are going to entertain ourselves in my space.”
“My project reached Asonga TV, one of the two channels in Guinea. There were many coincidences to come, but things in life led me to see my idea, which I knew would hit. My idea was not to present it, but they proposed me and I accepted the challenge ”, said the Colombian footballer from Africa.
Quendambú will have its own space: “Un Ratito con el 10”. There he will be outgoing and will take his guests out of the rigidity of TV interviews.
He is grateful to Equatorial Guinea, he feels like one more Guinean because they have given him love and opportunities. His current wife is African and there is more and more roots and respect for that nation.
“There are projects to work with the Federation of Equatorial Guinea to promote football in this country and strengthen the selected ‘Nzalang’. One does not rule out returning to Colombia one day and working in a medium there, although I feel fortunate to be in Africa and I am in the media learning stage ”.
Spanish is spoken in Guinea, so it’s not a problem for Danny. The French language is also spoken and Quendambú has learned to ‘defend itself’ with that language. The truth is that a TV star is born in African lands …
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