In 1959 he was acquired by Valencia CF but because it had reached its maximum allowance of foreign players, Cardona was lent to Spanish club Elche, who a year later was promoted to the top flight of the Spanish League for the first time in their history.
He made his debut on September 13, 1959 against Real Oviedo, and stayed for 5 seasons, playing 89 games and scoring 24 goals in the first division.
Cardona, playing with Valencia C.F., scored the first goal in the first nightly game in the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City against Necaxa on June 5, 1966.
[2] Cardona retired at the end of the 1968–69 season, by which time he had played a total of 141 games in the Primera División, scoring 44 goals.
He died, aged 73, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, of a heart attack.