Football in Colombia

The Estadio Nemesio Camacho in Bogotá, called El Campín

The football is in Colombia one of the most popular sports. Winning the 2001 Copa America , hosted by Colombia , is their greatest achievement so far. The clubs Atlético Nacional and Once Caldas were able to win the most important trophy in South American club football, the Copa Libertadores . Carlos Valderrama was named South American Footballer of the Year twice in the 1980s and 1990s and is the idol to be emulated. Gabriel Ochoa Uribe holds the most titles among coaches .

The most important football official is probably Alfonso Senior Quevedo . The long-time association president not only initiated the Colombian football championship in the 1940s , he was also long-time president of the record champions CD Los Millonarios from the capital Bogotá . Quevedo also brought the 1986 World Cup into the country, although it had to be held elsewhere due to the subsequent expansion of the field of participants.

The national team used the Estadio Nemesio Camacho stadium in Bogotá several times for tournaments and qualifying matches , which is also used by Los Millonarios and its arch-rival Independiente Santa Fe and has a capacity of 36,343 spectators. The largest, however, is the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez in Barranquilla , home of the first division Atlético Junior and the national team. It has a capacity of around 49,612 spectators. It was in this stadium that Colombia qualified twice for the World Cup.

history

How exactly football came to Colombia is not known. It is certain that several events contributed to this at the turn of the century (1900). At that time, the Colombia Railways Company hired Englishmen to build a railway line, who played this game in their free time. In 1906 the first football clubs were founded: Barranquilla Futbol Club, Santander, Juventus and Union Colombia.

On October 12, 1924, the Liga de Fútbol was founded, whose first president Emilio Royo was. Twelve years later, on June 8, 1936, the Associación Colombiana de Fútbol (Adefútbol) was registered. The CONMEBOL and FIFA recognized them in the same year. The Dimayor ( División Mayor del Fútbol Colombiano ) was founded on June 27, 1948, so that the first professional league game (Campeonato profesional) could take place on August 15 of the same year.

On October 25, 1952, FIFA revoked Colombia’s license. Players are said to have played without international approval. In 1954 Colombia got the license again. To protest against mismanagement in the Adefútbol, a new association, the Federación de Fútbol de Colombia (Fedebol), was created. FIFA had to intervene in 1966 when Adefútbol and Fedebol competed. Only the Fedebol, which subsequently became known as Colfútbol ( Federación Colombiana de Fútbol ), was granted approval.

In June 1974 Colombia was awarded the football World Cup for 1986, but this did not take place there because the Colombian state did not grant the necessary securities and finally refused it on November 5th.

The Colombian Football Association

The origins of the Federación Colombiana de Fútbol go back to 1924. In 1990 the association had 3,685 clubs and 209,580 active members. He is a member of FIFA and the South American continental association CONMEBOL .

National team

The national team's greatest achievement was winning the 2001 Copa America , hosted by Colombia. In the final, the home team won 1-0 against the Mexican national soccer team . Colombia reached the final at the Copa America in 1975 . After the team won the first leg in Bogotá against the Peruvian national soccer team 1-0, the team lost 2-0 in the second leg in Lima . Since the goal difference was still insignificant at that time, a decider was necessary. This was lost in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires with 0: 1.

At the FIFA World Cup Colombia accepts only in part since the 1958th The Colombians have only been able to qualify for the finals in 1962 , 1990 , 1994 and 1998 . The advance into the second round of the 1990 tournament in Italy was the greatest success. There the Colombians were eliminated with a 1: 2 after extra time against the Cameroon . In the other finals, the end came after the preliminary round.

The 1994 tournament in the USA brought another sad climax in the history of Colombian football. The defender Andrés Escobar scored an own goal in the preliminary round match against the USA national soccer team . The end result of the game was 1: 2 and Colombia was eliminated. After returning to Colombia, Escobar was shot dead in a bar in Medellín . It remained unclear whether the act was the act of a disappointed fan, family or the gambling mafia. He died of 12 shots.

societies

Colombian clubs of international importance are Atlético Nacional from Medellín and Once Caldas from Manizales , which won the Copa Libertadores in 2004 and 1989 respectively . In the final of this competition, Deportivo Cali was the first Colombian club in 1978 and América de Cali even reached the final three times in a row between 1985 and 1987. Two clubs from the capital Bogotá are also of national importance: CD Los Millonarios , which impressed especially in the 1950s and is the record champion with 13 titles, and Independiente Santa Fe , which won 6 championships.

championship

The Colombian football championship has been held since 1948. The heyday was in the early 1950s when numerous foreign stars, especially from Argentina, came to Colombia. In 1949, for example, 109 foreign soccer professionals played in this league. In those years the league was considered the best and richest league in the world and was also called the "Millionaires League". The players earned the highest salaries, bearing in mind that the wages in Europe were not very high at the time (e.g. England - around 80 pounds a month).

These days the league is considered the third best in South America after those of Argentina and Brazil and one of the 10 best in the world.

The record champions are the capital club Millonarios with 14 titles, ahead of Atlético Nacional and América de Cali with 13 titles.

Cup

The Colombia Cup, the Copa Colombia, has only been played in the early 1950s, 1963 and 1989. In 1989 it was an alternative to the championship that was canceled at the time. The Millonarios and Boca Juniors de Cali won twice each . In 2008 it was decided to revive the competition in the same year.

Known players

Two-time South American Footballer of the Year Carlos Valderrama is the legendary hero of Colombia. Goalkeeper René Higuita , known as el loco ("the crazy one") attracted the attention of the masses. Freddy Rincón also had a successful career with European clubs but became of interest to law enforcement after his career ended. Andrés Escobar dominated the headlines of the world press when he was murdered after an own goal at the 1994 World Cup . El tren ("the railroad") Adolfo Valencia spent a short but memorable time at Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. From January 2007 to June 2016 Elkin Soto played at 1. FSV Mainz 05 and was a regular there.

Other important players in Colombia are Faustino Asprilla , Juan Pablo Ángel , Iván Córdoba , Faryd Mondragón , Luis Carlos Perea , John Jairo Tréllez , Falcao and James .

mafia

The Colombian drug mafia is also getting involved in football. Before the 1982 World Cup , drug mafia boss Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela founded a football pool . Here were also small things such as B. the minute of the first substitutions or which club first receives a corner kick or throw-in , bet, just like the Austrian company Betandwin offers today.

Before the soccer World Cup in 1990 , several referees and club presidents were murdered and the league had to be interrupted. During these events, which attracted national attention, an international scandal broke out in 1994: after the 1994 World Cup , defender Andrés Escobar was shot dead on July 2nd after his arrival in Medellín . He was responsible for the decisive own goal against hosts USA . Colombia lost 2-1. Whether the perpetrators were part of the totomafia remains a matter of dispute.