Johan Stiven Carbonero Balanta

He was 87 minutes into his debut for Colombia when he scored. That was 11 October 2025, a friendly against Mexico that ended 4-0, and Johan Carbonero had come off the bench. Five weeks later, on 15 November, he scored again — this time against New Zealand in a 2-1 win. Two caps, two goals.

The route there ran through three countries. Carbonero came up at Once Caldas in Colombia, where he played 59 matches and scored six between 2018 and 2021. In the autumn of 2020 he went to Argentina on loan at Gimnasia y Esgrima of La Plata, an arrangement that ran to the end of 2021 and carried a purchase option. Gimnasia took it up in 2022, paying Once Caldas somewhere around 2.0-2.2 million dollars. He scored nine times in 41 games for them.

The next move was to Racing Club, which paid an estimated 3.5-3.8 million dollars in June 2022. He played 65 matches, scored eight goals and provided seven assists. He won the Trofeo de Campeones de la Liga Profesional in his first months at the club, and the Copa Sudamericana in 2024.

In January 2025 Racing loaned him to Internacional in Porto Alegre for 350,000 dollars, with a compulsory purchase clause set at four million. He won the Campeonato Gaúcho that year. Internacional executed the option on 3 January 2026, splitting the fee between Racing (75 per cent) and Once Caldas (25), and signed him to December 2029. By then he had 38 appearances, eight goals and two assists for the Brazilian club.

Before the senior side there were the Colombia youth teams, U-20 and U-23, and a bronze medal at the 2018 South American Games.