| Isaac Zuleta | |
| Full Name: | Isaac Zuleta Rendón |
| Birth Date: | 10 August 2003 |
| Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Height: | 1.81 m |
| Position: | Forward |
| Currentclub: | Miami FC |
| Clubnumber: | 9 |
| Youthclubs1: | Envigado |
| Youthyears2: | 2017–2022 |
| Youthclubs2: | Getafe |
| Years1: | 2022–2023 |
| Caps1: | 4 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2023–2023 |
| Caps2: | 0 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2023– |
| Caps3: | 0 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2021– |
| Nationalteam1: | Colombia U20 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 10 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 1 |
| Club-Update: | 16:53, 5 July 2023 (UTC) |
| Nationalteam-Update: | 21:36, 5 July 2023 (UTC) |
Isaac Zuleta Rendón (born 10 August 2003) is a professional footballer who currently plays as a forward for USL Championship side Miami FC. Born in the United States, he is a youth international for Colombia.
The son of a construction businessman, Zuleta was born in Los Angeles, California in the United States, but moved to Medellín, Colombia immediately after his birth.[1]
After his family moved to Envigado, Zuleta joined the academy of Envigado, where he spent "two or three years" before his family moved again, to Getafe in Spain when he was fourteen.[1] He went on trial with local professional side Getafe, who invited him to join after two months of trials.[1] He scored hat-tricks in his first three games, for a total of sixteen goals in his first eleven matches, at youth level.[1] After a while in the academy, he was offered a professional contract by Italian side Venezia, but decided to remain with Getafe, signing his first professional deal in December 2021.[1] [2]
In late 2021, Zuleta was called up to the Colombian under-20 side for the Revelations Cup, as Colombia lost 3–2 to Brazil in the final.[2] [3] He featured for Colombia at the 2023 South American U-20 Championship, but did not impress with no goals in five games as Colombia third in the tournament.
Following manager Héctor Cárdenas' decision to call up Zuleta to his preliminary squad for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup, ahead of both Tomás Ángel and Luis Quintero, who had both had better seasons than Zuleta, speculation in Colombia arose that vice president of the Colombian Football Federation,, had imposed his influence on the squad selection in order to ensure Zuleta was called up.[4] [5] Both Cárdenas and González Alzate denied this, with the latter stating in an interview with in January 2023 that he "[doesn't] even know" Zuleta.[6]
Following the controversial call up, Zuleta announced via his Instagram account on 4 May 2023 that he would be withdrawing from the squad, citing his recovery from injury as the reason.[7]