René Higuita

René Higuita
René Higuita (2007)
Personnel
Surname	José René Higuita Zapata
birthday	August 28, 1966
place of birth	Medellin ,  Colombia
size	172 cm
position	goalkeeper
Juniors
Years	station
	Los Millonarios CD
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1985	Los Millonarios CD	16 0(5)
1986-1992	Atlético Nacional	112 0(1)
1992-1993	Real Valladolid	15 0(0)
1994-1997	Atlético Nacional	69 0(3)
1997-1998	CD Veracruz	30 0(2)
1999-2000	Independiente Medellin	20 0(4)
2000-2001	Real Cartagena	21 0(2)
2001-2002	Atlético Junior	4 0(0)
2002-2003	Deportivo Pereira	13 0(0)
2004	SD Aucas	35 0(0)
2005	Bajo Cauca FC	13 0(1)
2007	Guaros de Lara FC	10 0(0)
2008	Deportivo Rionegro	10 0(2)
2008-2009	Deportivo Pereira	12 0(5)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1987-1999	Colombia	68 0(3)
1 Only league games are given.

José René Higuita Zapata , also known as El Loco (Spanish for The Crazy ), (born August 28, 1966 in Medellín ) is a former Colombian football player ( goalkeeper ). He is one of the most colorful figures in international and Colombian football .

Club soccer

He made his debut in 1985 with CD Los Millonarios in the Colombian first division and played for Atlético Nacional in Medellín from 1986 to 1997 , only interrupted by a brief stint at Real Valladolid in the Spanish Segunda División in the 1992/93 season. With Atlético Nacional, Higuita won the Copa Libertadores in 1989 after saving four penalties and converting one in the final penalty shootout. In the 1997/98 season he switched to CD Veracruz in Mexico. He then had various short-term engagements in the Colombian first division from 1999 to 2002 ( Independiente Medellín , Real Cartagena , Atlético Junior ; one season each). He then worked for Deportivo Pereira in 2002/03 . After a suspension (see below), he played for SD Aucas in Quito ( Ecuador ) in 2004 and for Bajo Cauca FC in 2005 . After a career break, he joined Guaros de Lara FC in Venezuela in 2007 , and in January 2008 he moved to the Colombian second division club Deportivo Rionegro , with whom he was runner-up in the Categoría Primera B and just missed promotion. In June 2008 he moved to Deportivo Pereira and was again active in the first division. From January 2009 he works as a goalkeeping coach at his former club Real Valladolid. His farewell game took place on January 24, 2010 at the Atanasio Girardot stadium in Medellín.

National team

Higuita was an intermittent goalkeeper for the Colombian national team between 1987 and 1999 . He scored three goals in 68 international matches.

In 1990 he became one of the defining personalities of the World Cup in Italy thanks to his hairstyle and playful interludes . His playful contributions were his undoing when he tried to play around Roger Milla in the 109th minute of the round of 16 against Cameroon in front of the penalty area, but then lost the ball. The then 38-year-old Milla sprinted away from him and scored the decisive 2-0, which sealed the elimination of Colombia. In a friendly against England on September 6, 1995 at Wembley Stadium , Higuita managed one of the most spectacular parades in football history: Instead of catching a long-range shot with his hands, he dropped forward and parried the ball upside down on the goal line with both heels. This parade has come to be known as the "Scorpion Kick". Until he was surpassed by Paraguay's José Luis Chilavert in 1998 , Higuita was the world's most dangerous goalkeeper in international matches.

In 2004 he was the goalkeeping coach of the Ecuadorian national team .

Extra sports

Higuita was born in a poor part of Medellín. His mother lived alone and died a few years after Higuita's birth, so that he grew up with his grandmother. He is married for the second time. He has a daughter with his first wife, who has since passed away. There are two more children from the second marriage.

In 1993, Higuita worked for a commission of US $ 64,000 as an intermediary and in handing over the money in the case of a friend's daughter who was kidnapped by a Colombian drug dealer. This illegal behavior earned him a prison sentence that he served in Bogotá . He was later released after demonstrations called for his release and Higuita himself declaring that he was on a hunger strike .

After a league game he played with Deportivo Pereira against Deportivo Cali in September 2002 , the doping test showed Higuitas residues of cocaine . Higuita has been banned from the Colombian Federation. After the first game of the finals for the Ecuadorian championship on October 23, 2004 with Aucas against CD Olmedo (Riobamba), his doping test again demonstrated cocaine use. Higuita was on leave as goalkeeping coach for the Ecuadorian national team and at Aucas.

Most recently he drew attention to himself in the first and second half of 2005 by participating in the reality shows “La isla de los famosos: Una aventura pirata” (a version of Survivor or Expedition Robinson ) and “Cambio Extremo” on the Colombian broadcaster RCN TV . At “La isla de los famosos”, in which the footballer Leonel Álvarez also took part, he was one of the five finalists and came in second. In the program "Cambio Extremo" (Eng. Complete Change ) several cosmetic operations were carried out and documented on him. a. Lip injections, chin augmentation and dental, oral and maxillofacial surgery.

Web links

• René Higuita in the database of weltfussball.de
• René Higuita in the database of National-Football-Teams.com (English)
• List of his international appearances at rsssf.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Antonio Aragón, René Higuita, nuevo preparador de porteros ( Memento of September 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), elvalladolid.com, December 28, 2008 (Spanish)
2. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung : «El loco» says Adios: Higuita's farewell game ( Memento from January 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on January 22, 2010)
3. ↑ The parade on Youtube