Sports
Who is Rene Higuita? The scorpion-kicking goalie linked to Pablo Escobar
Talk of the most crazy and exciting moment in the game of football (soccer), Colombian goalkeeper, Rene Higuita’s scorpion-kick display during a friendly match against England will always feature.
Who is Rene Higuita?
His full name is José René Higuita Zapata. He is a Colombian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During his career he played for wo clubs: Atlético Nacional, a Colombian club and BSC Young Boys, a Swiss club.
He is fondly referred to as “El Loco” meaning “The Madman” by soccer fans because of his high-risk playing style and theatrics.
Age and place of birth
Rene Higuita was born in Castilla, a neighbourhood in the city of Medelin, the second-largest city Colombia after Bogota.
He was born on August 27, 1966. He is currently 58 years old and will be 59 years old by August 27, 2025.
Family
Rene Higuita’s father is Jorge Zapata and his mother is Maria Dioselina Higuita. His name should have been Rene Zapata but his father refused to acknowledge Higuita when he was a child, so he was raised by his mother who earned a meagre living working in a textile factory. His mother later died when he was very young, so he was taken care of by his grandmother Ana Felisa.
Career
Rene Higuita made his football debut at Millonarios, a Colombian professional football club based in Bogota. In 1986, he transferred to Atletico Nacional, another Colombian football club but based in Medellin. Drug lord, Pablo Escobar, reportedly had a substantial investment in the club through his testaferros, his front men.
He won the Colombian League two times with Atletico Nacional and also Copa Libertadores and Copa Interamericana, both in 1989.
He would later transfer to Real Valladolid, a Spanish football club where he spent for years. Higuita then left for Mexico to join Mexican side, Veracruz, and returned to Colombia to join his former club, Atletico’s rival, Independiente Medelin.
Internationally, Higuita was a key figure for the Colombian national team during a golden era. He played a crucial role in their qualification for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, their first appearance since 1962.
However, his high-risk style also led to infamous moments, most notably his dispossession by Cameroon’s Roger Milla in the 1990 World Cup round of 16, which resulted in Colombia’s elimination.
Perhaps the single most iconic moment of Higuita’s career was the “scorpion kick.” He spectacularly saved a shot against England at Wembley Stadium in a 1995 friendly by leaping forward, arching his legs over his back, and clearing the ball with his heels. This audacious maneuver cemented his legendary status.
Higuita made 68 appearances for the Colombian national team, scoring 3 goals. He was a key figure in the squad that reached the round of 16 in the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. It was during this tournament that his risk-taking style was globally showcased, famously leading to a mistake that allowed Cameroon’s Roger Milla to score and eliminate Colombia.
He was forced into early retirement in 2005 after testing positive for drugs in 2004. He was playing for Aucas, a football club in Quito, Ecuador. Rene Higuita came out of retirement on July 21, 2007, to sign for Venezuelan club, Guaros FC. He would finally retire on January 25, 2010, while playing for Deportivo Pereira.
Link to drug lord Pablo Escobar
Rene Higuita career was not without controversy. He was imprisoned in June 1993 for his involvement in a kidnapping case, which caused him to miss the 1994 World Cup.
The goalkeeper had acted as a go-between negotiating the release of an 11-year-old girl, the daughter of a drug baron Luis Carlos Molina.
When the rival drug lord, Pablo Escobar, was short of cash when he was haunted by the law enforcement, he resorted to ransoming and kidnapping family members of his underworld rivals.
When Molina was kidnapped, her father, Carlos Molina Yepe, turned to Rene Higuita to help secure the release of his daughter from her kidnappers. The crime boss, Molina, was also an investor in Atletico Nacional, the club Huguita was playing for at the time.
Narrating his side of the story concerning his link to Escobar, Higuita said during the peak of his career, he only visited in the La Catedral prison.
“I was sort of friends with him, but with that ‘sort of friends’ everyone wanted to peg me as their pal.
“In fact, the person I was actually friends with was Don Roberto Escobar (Pablo’s brother).”
“When Pablo Escobar’s persecution began, they started to catch all of his friends,” Higuita told Fox Sports.
“They put pressure on me to turn him in, but I didn’t know anything.
“I wasn’t his friend.
“People themselves turned me into his friend when I went to visit him.
“The authorities themselves knew that I was innocent.
“In conclusion to this topic and Escobar’s persecution, I was not at the centre of everything that was happening in our country.
“I was linked with the freedom of the girl I had gone to the cathedral with.
“If I have a photo with Alvaro Uribe Velez, they’re going to say that I’m a politician.
“If I have one with a guerrilla, they’re going to say that I’m a guerrilla.
“If I have one with Pablo Escobar, they’re going to say that I’m a narcotrafficker.
“But very few times, as I’m religious, do they say that I’m the Pope or catholic.”
Disclaimer
The information in this article was curated from online sources. NewsWireNGR or its editorial team cannot independently verify all details.
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