Yolanda Cardona, Victor Valdes’ Wife: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Yolanda Cardona Instagram page

(Instagram)

As Manchester United continue to produce turgid soccer that could produce a mutiny, the team’s coach Louis Van Gaal has one clear enemy already. Colombian supermodel Yolanda Cardona, the wife of United’s out-of-favor goalkeeper Victor Valdes, scolded the club on her Instagram account for not inviting the couple to a charity dinner for UNICEF. Cardona finished the message with the words “charity is always charity.”

Here’s what you need to know:


1. Cardona Called the Snub ‘the Last Thing You Expect From Manchester United’

In an Instagram post made on November 30, Cardona posted a photo of a group of Manchester United players at the UNICEF dinner. The posting was written in Spanish, this translation from Samuel Luckhurst in the Manchester Evening News:

To not invite my husband @vicvaldes1 to be part of the #united4unicef, it’s the last thing you expect from one of the biggest clubs like @manchesterunited.

The only other major Manchester United player not pictured at the event was winger Antonio Valencia who is battling an injury problem. The event was dubbed “United For Unicef” on the club’s official website.


2. Valdes Previously Said That His Wife Deserves His Trophies for Putting Up With Him

In an interview with Colombia TV, Valdes declared his love for Cardona. He said “I am a difficult person to work and live. My wife deserves the biggest trophies for putting so many years.” The couple have been together since 2007 when they met through mutual friends in Barcelona. Valdes also said in the interview that his wife didn’t like to be known as merely a “soccer player’s wife.” She’s successful in her own right as a model, most famously fronting a campaign for Skyy vodka.

The couple have three children together, Dylan, Kai, and born in 2013, a daughter named Vera.


3. Part of Valdes’ Motivation to Leave Barcelona Was His Mother’s Beef With Cardona

According to a feature by Vanitatis, Valdes left Barcelona in 2014 in part because of problems he had with his brother, Ricardo, and an issue between Cardona and Valdes’ mother, Agatha Arribas. A source told Vanitatis “The Valdes wanted to know if there was something shady past Yolanda, but the fact is that nothing could be found.”


4. She Grew Up in a Tiny Town in Colombia That’s Famous for Coffee, She’s Now a Super Model

Yolanda Cardona Victor Valdes wife

(Getty)

She was born in the small Colombian coffee town of Victoria in the region of Caldas, reports Jet Set. Later in her life, her family moved to the larger city of Cartagena. She described this move as helping her to have balance of small town girl values but being capable of living in the big city. She moved to Europe in 2000, specifically Barcelona, to begin a career as a model.


5. Valdes Doesn’t Even a Locker at United’s Training Complex Anymore

At the beginning of the 2015/16 season, Daniel Taylor at the Guardian reported that Valdes wasn’t given a locker at the club’s training facility. He was put on a personal training regime and kept away from the other first team players. This all comes after coach Louis Van Gaal criticized the goalkeeper’s attitude in pre-season. There had been reports that Newcastle United and Turkish club Besiktas were going to come in for him. It’s a sad way for the 33-year-old player, who is one of the most decorated goalkeepers of his generation, to be winding down his career.