Duvan Zapata

In 2011, Zapata who got the nickname "The Black Coloncoro", joined Estudiantes on loan for a $120,000 loan fee with an option for Estudiantes to purchase for $1.2 million. On his debut, Zapata scored a goal in a 3–2 win over Belgrano. During his first year with Estudiantes, Zapata would occasionally make appearances with their reserve team. Despite this, he still managed to score four goals in eight matches in the Torneo Clausura 2012. That year, within both the Apertura and Clasura, Zapata scored 5 goals in 11 matches. During the summer of 2012, Estudiantes purchased half of Zapata's playing rights from América de Cali.

In July 2013, English Premier League club West Ham United applied for a British work permit for Zapata ahead of a possible transfer from Estudiantes. Although not meeting the usual requirements for a permit, West Ham attempted to secure his arrival by claiming he was a "special talent" who would enhance the English game. However, West Ham's owners soon announced on social media they were pulling out of the deal.

On 25 August 2013, Zapata transferred to Italian Serie A club Napoli for an undisclosed fee. He made his first start in Serie A on 28 September, in a 2–0 Napoli win against Genoa. On 22 October, he scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League, against Marseille in a 2–1 away win.

Zapata scored his first league goals for the Partenopei on 26 March 2014, two in a 4–2 win at Catania in which his team got all their goals in the first half. He finished the season with five to his name, including two more in the last match, a 5–1 win over Hellas Verona at the Stadio San Paolo.

On 22 July 2015, Zapata joined Udinese on a two-year loan deal with the option to purchase him after his first year at the club.

On 31 August 2017, Zapata joined Sampdoria on a season-long loan deal with an obligation to purchase.

Zapata received his first call-up to the Colombia national team for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Bolivia and Ecuador in March 2017. He made his debut on 23 March, as a 64th-minute substitute for Mateus Uribe in a 1–0 home win over Bolivia.

On 12 July 2018, Zapata joined Atalanta on a two-season loan deal with an option to purchase.

On 26 December 2018, Zapata scored twice in a 2–2 draw against Juventus. Later on 20 January 2019, Zapata scored four goals in a 5–0 away win versus Frosinone, becoming the first Atalanta player since Hasse Jeppson in 1952 to achieve this feat in Serie A. The goals lifted his tally up to 14 goals, all scored consecutively in his last 8 matches, making him the top scorer of the league jointly with Cristiano Ronaldo and Fabio Quagliarella.

In May 2018, Zapata was named in Colombia's preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 World Cup tournament proper, in Russia. However, he did not make the final 23-man squad.

On 30 January 2019, Zapata scored twice in a 3–0 win against holders Juventus in the quarter final stage of Coppa Italia. After helping Atalanta to reach the 2019 Coppa Italia Final, and achieve a third-place finish in Serie A, and consequently a spot in the Champions League, scoring 23 league goals in the process, Zapata was awarded a spot in the Serie A team of the year at the end of the season.

On 1 October 2019, Zapata scored Atalanta's first ever goal in the UEFA Champions League in a 2–1 loss against Shakthar Donetsk.

On 30 May 2019, Zapata was included in the 23-man final Colombia squad for the 2019 Copa América. In a pre-tournament friendly on 9 June he scored his first international goal at the end of a 3–0 win away to Peru, having replaced Radamel Falcao at half time. He then scored in the first two group games in Brazil, against Argentina (2–0) and Qatar (1–0).

On 17 January 2020, Atalanta exercised their option to purchase Zapata's rights on a permanent basis. A week later, he scored his first goal since his return from a 3 month injury in a 7–0 defeat of Torino. On 12 July, Zapata scored his 15th goal of the season in a 2–2 draw against Juventus, making it the first time since Juventus in 1952 that a Serie A club had 3 players with 15 or more goals in a season (Muriel, Iličić, Zapata). On 27 October 2020, he scored a brace in a 2–2 draw against Ajax in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League.