Freddy Eusebio Rincón Valencia (; 14 August 1966 – 13 April 2022) was a Colombian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played 84 games for the Colombia national team between 1990 and 2001. A versatile

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, he was capable of playing on the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

, in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

or as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. At club level he played for Independiente Santa Fé, América de Cali (Colombia),

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(Italy),

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(Spain), Palmeiras, Santos, and Corinthians (Brazil).

Club career

Rincón began his professional career at Independiente Santa Fé in 1986, winning the

Copa Colombia The Copa Colombia (); officially known as Copa BetPlay Dimayor is an annual football tournament in Colombia. It is contested by the 36 professional clubs affiliated to the División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano (DIMAYOR) and is the ...

in 1989 with the capital club, as well as gaining national acclaim for his performances. With América de Cali he won the Colombian Championship in 1990 and 1992. It was his performances at the 1994 World Cup that prompted

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

to sign the Colombian midfielder. However the three foreigner rule meant he was loaned out to

, and was eventually sold onto

for the 1995–96 season. Rincón spent the latter part of his career playing club football in Brazil where he played for Palmeiras, Corinthians, Santos and Cruzeiro. During his time with Corinthians the club won the Brazilian championship in 1998 and 1999 and the first

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

in 2000, his greatest title.

International career

Rincón scored 17 goals in 84 caps for the Colombia national team, playing in the

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, and 1998 World Cups. His most memorable goal is the one he scored against

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, Italy on 19 June during the 1990 World Cup. Playing into injury time, Colombia needed a goal to draw the game and avoid elimination from the tournament at the group stages. When played through by a pass from Carlos Valderrama, Rincon held his nerve and calmly fired the ball through the legs of Bodo Illgner to secure the draw his team needed. During a qualifying match for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

on 5 September 1993 against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, he scored the first goal of the game receiving the ball from teammate Carlos Valderrama and passing the Argentine goalkeeper, Sergio Goycochea, before scoring the third goal in a 5–0 victory that secured Colombia's place at the World Cup.

Coaching career

In 2005, Rincón started a football manager career, after he was hired as Iraty manager for the 2006 season. On 27 September 2006, Rincón was hired as São Bento's manager. He was the coach of São José Esporte Clube of São José dos Campos, São Paulo. He was hired as Corinthians youth team head coach in 2009.

Personal life

Rincón had been a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

since 20 August 2005. He was baptized in São Paulo Perdizes Stake in Brazil. In 2007, Rincón came under criminal investigation in Colombia and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, facing charges of collaboration with cocaine kingpin Pablo Rayo Montaño and suspicion of money laundering. On 10 May, São Paulo police took him into custody after a Panamanian request for extradition. In August 2013, Rincón suffered multiple injuries in a car accident in his native Valle del Cauca, where he underwent surgery at a local hospital. Rincón's son is professional footballer Sebastián Rincón, who once played for

Barracas Central Club Atlético Barracas Central is an Argentine professional association football, football club from the district of Barracas, Buenos Aires. Established in 1904, Barracas Central returned to the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, th ...

in Argentina.

Death

On 11 April 2022, Rincón was hospitalised with critical head injuries after the car he was driving collided with a bus in the Colombian city of

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

. Four of his passengers and the bus driver were also injured. He died two days later.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rincón goal.''

Honours

Independiente Santa Fe *

: 1989 América de Cali *

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a professional association football league in Colombia and the highest level of the Colombian ...

: 1990, 1992 Palmeiras *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

Corinthians * Brasileirão:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Colombia *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

third place:

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Individual *South American Team of the Year: 1993, 1999 * Bola de Prata: 1999

References

External links

* *
International statistics
at

rsssf The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

Futbol Factory profile

What happened to Freddy Rincon?
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rincon, Freddy 1966 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Converts to Mormonism Colombian Latter Day Saints Colombian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Colombia men's international footballers Categoría Primera A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players La Liga players Serie A players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1991 Copa América players 1993 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players Colombian football managers Independiente Santa Fe footballers América de Cali footballers SE Palmeiras players São Paulo state football team players SSC Napoli players Real Madrid CF players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Santos FC players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Iraty Sport Club managers Esporte Clube São Bento managers São José Esporte Clube managers Colombian people of African descent Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Road incident deaths in Colombia 20th-century Colombian sportsmen