Carlos Arturo Bacca Ahumada was born on 8 September 1986 in Puerto Colombia, in Colombia’s Atlántico department, and came through Universidad Autónoma del Caribe and the youth ranks of Junior de Barranquilla. He is a Colombian centre-forward. He won the Europa League with Sevilla in 2014 and 2015 and won it again with Villarreal in 2021. He has played for Deportivo Cali since July 2026.
Early years
Bacca started out in Colombia’s Primera C with Universidad Autónoma del Caribe before moving into Junior’s youth system. His first senior minutes came at Barranquilla F.C., Junior’s feeder club in the Colombian second tier. He played there on loan in 2007 and again in 2008: 12 goals in 27 games in the first spell, 14 goals in 19 in the second. In between he went to Venezuela to play for Minervén, scoring 13 goals in 29 matches in 2007-08.
Junior and the move to Belgium
He became a first-team regular at Junior in 2009. In his first spell at the club he scored 73 goals in 135 games and won the Colombian top flight in the 2010 Apertura and the 2011 Finalización. In January 2012 he joined Club Brugge. After half a season to settle in, he finished 2012-13 as the Belgian league’s top scorer with 25 goals in 35 games and was named the best player of that campaign. He left Belgium with 31 goals in 54 appearances.
Sevilla and two Europa League titles
Sevilla paid €7 million for him in July 2013 and gave him a five-year contract. In his first season he scored 14 league goals and won the 2014 Europa League: the final against Benfica in Turin went to penalties, and Bacca converted his kick. In 2014-15 he scored 20 league goals and Sevilla retained the trophy. In the 2015 final in Warsaw he scored twice in a 3-2 win over Dnipro, giving the club its second straight Europa League. Over two seasons he scored 49 goals in 108 games for Sevilla.
Milan, Villarreal and Granada
AC Milan signed him in July 2015 for €30 million, the amount of his release clause. He scored 19 Serie A goals in his first season in Italy and finished with 35 goals in 77 matches for the Rossoneri, winning the 2016 Supercoppa Italiana. In August 2017 he joined Villarreal on loan, scoring 15 league goals in his first year, and the club signed him permanently in 2018. He played 145 games for Villarreal, scored 43 goals and won the 2021 Europa League, the third of his career. In July 2021 he moved to Granada, where he scored once in 19 appearances.
Colombia national team
He made his Colombia debut on 11 August 2010, starting a friendly against Bolivia in La Paz, and scored with a header that day. He played at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where Colombia reached the quarter-finals, and at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where he made three appearances. In Russia he missed one of the penalties in the round-of-16 shootout against England. He also played at the 2015 Copa América and the 2016 Copa América Centenario, where he scored twice and Colombia finished third. He won 52 caps and scored 16 goals.
Playing style
Bacca is a penalty-box striker. He finishes with either foot and with his head, and many of his goals come from runs in behind central defenders and from reading loose balls in the area. He is not a forward who drops deep to build play; his game is concentrated in the final few metres. He reached Europe in January 2012 and, despite that late move, scored more than 30 goals for each of Club Brugge, Sevilla and Milan.
Return to Colombia
He rejoined Junior in July 2022. In his second spell he won the league in the 2023 Finalización, finishing as the tournament’s top scorer with 18 goals, and again in the 2026 Apertura. Between 2022 and 2026 he scored 61 goals in 159 games for the Barranquilla club. On 31 July 2026 Deportivo Cali announced his signing.
Deportivo Cali