news-engine

THERE WAS a time when Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city, was one of the most dangerous places in the world, dominated by an urban war caused by a group of infamous drug cartels. It was the backyard of the notorious Pablo Escobar, who presided over a drug empire from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. Things have changed since those dark days and Medellín has become something of a tourist destination, although in the poorest areas of the city crime rates remain too high. Football became a target for the criminal fraternity in Medellín as the likes of Escobar saw the game as an ideal vehicle for money laundering activities. This resulted in Escobar’s favourite club, Atlético Nacional, benefitting from huge sums of money that enabled them to recruit foreign players and also retain the best local talent. It didn’t stop there, for by the mid-1980s, 17 of Colombia’s top clubs had some sort of connection with the drug cartels. The four clubs with the closest connections were Atlético Nacional, América de Cali, Millonarios and Independiente Santa Fe. Atlético Nacional, founded in 1947, are Medellín’s premier club and in 1989, they became the first Colombian side to win the Copa Libertadores, beating Paraguay’s Olimpia on penalties after each side had won their respective home legs 2-0. The team of that period included René Higuita, the flamboyant and often controversial goalkeeper that astounded audiences with his spectacular scorpion kick save for the Colombian national team. He was an eccentric figure who was known as El Loco and spent some time in prison and was also found guilty of using cocaine. Higuita won 68 caps for his country and was one of nine Atlético Nacional players in Colombia’s 1990 World Cup. The rather grim reputation of Colombian football inevitably impacted on their status in the game. They should have hosted World Cup 1986 but withdrew after their minister of justice admitted football had been taken over by the mafia. The 1989 league championship was cancelled after referee Álvaro Ortega was assassinated in October of that year. This climate of fear and violence was also reflected in the lives of their players. Felipe Pérez, who played a cameo role in Atlético Nacional’s Copa Libertadores triumph, was arrested in 1993 for links to the Medellín Cartel and illegal possession of firearms. Three years later, he died of multiple gunshot wounds. Another squad member, Albeiro Usuriaga, who played 15 times for Colombia, was banned from the game after he was found guilty of cocaine use. The most shocking episode came in 1994 just days after Colombian defender, Andrés Escobar, who scored an own goal against the USA, was viciously murdered in Medellín. Football was now in the same category as journalists, police officers, judges and politicians. Atlético Nacional and other clubs were so dependent on illicit drug money that their coach, Francisco Maturana, later declared that without it, Colombian football simply would not exist. There was no corner of Colombian society that did not have to bow to the drug lords – including the armed forces and law enforcement officers. The 1989 league championship was cancelled after linesman Álvaro Ortega was assassinated in October of that year after giving two decisions against Independiente Medellín which cost the criminals a £ 750,000 stake from a bet. A year earlier, a referee was kidnapped and later released with a message that the culprits would eliminate any referee who got in their way. Pablo Escobar died in 1993 after being shot by police. This effectively ended the eras of Narco-Fútbol, partly because it had become too visible to successful launder money through football clubs. Without this financial support, many of Colombia’s clubs were in perilous financial trouble. Furthermore, they were black-listed by the US with the assets of some clubs frozen. Atlético’s next Copa Libertadores success came in 2016 when they beat Independiente del Valle of Ecuador 2-1 on aggregate. The club is now owned by Organización Ardila Lülle, a conglomerate that deals in communications, food and beverages. Atlético Nacional, known as El Verde (the green), have an intense rivalry with Independiente Medellín, who also play at the Atanasio Girardot stadium. The Medellín deby is known as El Clásico Paisa. The two teams have met 300 times and the atmosphere is always passionate, primarily attributable to Atlético’s barra brava group, Los Del Sur and their counterparts from Independiente, Rexixtenxia Norte. Invariably, violence breaks out, which is why away fans are often banned at their meetings. Independiente were formed in 1913, making them the second oldest club in Colombia. They are known as El Equipo del Puebla (the people’s team). They do not have the same kind of honours list as Atlético (six league titles versus 18) but they did reach the last four of the Copa Libertadores in 2003. Their last Colombian title was in 2016 when they beat Junior to clinch the Torneo Apertura. In 2026, Atlético topped the Apertura, five points ahead of Junior, but the two teams met in the final with Junior running out 3-1 winners on aggregate. Independiente finished in mid-table. The Torneo Finalización has just started and Independiente have a 100% record. Medellín is a different place from the days when a conveyor belt of negative news came out of the city. Murders have declined by 95% and extreme poverty has come down by 66%, while unemployment and inflation are also improving. Colombia reached the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup and were runners-up in the Copa America in 2024, but they do not have players of the kind they enjoyed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Likewise, Colombian teams are no longer contenders in the Libertadores. It would seem unlikely the situation will change in the near future. Photo: Young Shanahan via Unsplash.