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Shaped by Medellin's streets, Daniel Munoz rises to World Cup stardom
Daniel Munoz, who once worked as a kitman and thought of quitting football, has now become Colombia's most important player at the 2026 Fifa World Cup
- PUBLISHED: Wed 24 Jun 2026, 3:08 PM
Daniel Munoz could have been forgiven for basking in the glory after collecting the man-of-the-match award for his goal in a hard-fought 1-0 win over Congo, which earned Colombia a place in the round of 32 at the World Cup.
But the Colombian right-back remained as humble as ever.
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"Just because I scored the goal doesn't mean I'm the star,” the 30-year-old said.
“We're all the stars. We all earned these three points. This is a family, and here, the star is Colombia.
"The effort of the entire team deserves recognition. Nothing is easy; nobody is getting anything for free.”
For someone who failed to make the cut until his early 20s as a professional footballer, Munoz knows very well that nothing is easy in life.
In a candid interview with the media team at Crystal Palace, the Premier League club he plays for, Munoz narrated his story of emerging from the drug-lord-infested Colombian streets to the global football stage.
Born in Amalfi, a small town in the north east of Colombia, Munoz moved to Bello, a suburb of Medellín, at the age of five.
It was in Medellín, the tropical city from which Pablo Escobar once ran his infamous drug cartel, that Munoz first dreamt of becoming a footballer.
Medellín is also famous for its street art culture, with beautiful murals on the walls and buildings painting the history of the Colombian city.
In one of those streets, Munoz first started playing football as a child.
“That’s where my dream of becoming a footballer began,” he told Crystal Palace’s official website. “Medellin is a tropical city. The people are very friendly and the food, the landscapes, the weather… it’s fantastic, all year round.
“Football is played in the streets. You played games with two stones, which were the goalposts. You played five against five, six against six, and when cars or buses came along, you stopped the game. When they passed, you started again. That was a huge part of my childhood.”
Since joining his first club as a six-year-old, Munoz made steady progress in age-group football (under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16) without ever grabbing the eyeballs of the big clubs' scouts.
Munoz was at a crossroads when he turned 20. Having failed to secure a deal with professional clubs after several trials, he wanted to give up on his dreams and applied for a US visa in search of work to help his family.
“I saw that my career was passing me by. I hadn’t had a good opportunity in professional football. As an adult, at 20 years old, without a professional club… that’s when you start doubting if you’re going to continue or not,” he recalled.
Then, in a remarkable turnaround, Munoz received a phone call from one of his childhood coaches, offering him a chance to play for Águilas Doradas, a professional club in Colombia.
Not blessed with explosive talent, Munoz is a tireless worker on the field, a classic box-to-box player who is at the heart of his team’s attacks and also tracks back to defend.
The willingness to work hard was evident in one of his amateur clubs as a teenager in Medellín, where he was also the team’s kitman, earning a few extra bucks by moving equipment to the bus.
Munoz carries the same attitude to the pitch, running hard and making vital tackles to win back possession for his more creative teammates.
It was a style of play that endeared him to the coach at Águilas Doradas, where his impressive performances caught the attention of Atlético Nacional, the Colombian giant Munoz grew up supporting.
Munoz was an instant hit at Atlético Nacional. Having joined them in 2019, his seven goals and work-rate earned him his first national team call-up.
Just three years after being on the brink of quitting football, Munoz was an international footballer.
A hamstring injury delayed his Colombia debut, but his breakthrough season at Atlético Nacional earned a move to Europe as he joined Belgian club Genk in 2020.
In four seasons, Munoz was an indispensable part of Genk, becoming one of the best rightbacks in the Belgian league, which also earned him his first Colombia cap in 2021.
Three years later, Munoz made a dream Premier League move to Crystal Palace, where he etched his name in the history books by providing the assist for the team’s match-winning goal against the star-studded Manchester City in last year’s FA Cup final.
Just years after making his professional debut, Munoz was celebrating the greatest moment of his life as a footballer with the FA Cup trophy and the man-of-the-match award in his hands at the iconic Wembley.
Munoz’s journey proves that anything is possible in life, even when nothing comes easy.
“I like being an example to young people,” he said. “I tell them you should never stop dreaming, because it’s never too late. I made my dream come true at such a late age – nothing is impossible.”
Tuesday night’s goal against Colombia was his second of this World Cup, having scored the opener in the team’s 3-1 win over Uzbekistan.
He may not behave like a star, but he performed like one at the 2024 Copa America, scoring two goals to help Colombia earn a runners-up finish.
Now Munoz and Colombia will be back on the field for the last group stage game against Portugal.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s team will be the favourites after their thumping 5-0 win over Uzbekistan.
Ronaldo, 41, is back in form with two brilliant goals, becoming the first man to score in six World Cups.
But on Sunday, what will be at stake is not a trophy for a goal-scoring competition, but a top-place finish in Group K.
Colombia features two outstanding creative players —Bayern Munich’s Luis Diaz and James Rodriguez, the top scorer of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
But the team known as Coffee Growers also possesses the indefatigable Danile Munoz, who emerged from the streets of Medellin as a late bloomer to make a mark on the big stage.
Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.