José René Higuita Zapata (; born 27 August 1966) is a Colombian former 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 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He was nicknamed ''El Loco'' ("The Madman") for his high-risk ' sweeper-keeper' playing style and his flair for the dramatic, and sometimes even scoring goals despite being a goalkeeper. Higuita's style of play, which was first shown to a global audience during the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

, was pioneering in influencing goalkeepers to take more responsibility for situations farther from the goal.Tim Vickery (10 February 2010)
"The Legacy of Rene Higuita"
BBC. Retrieved 11 June 2014

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

ranked Higuita the 8th best South American keeper in history. He is also ranked as one of the 10 highest-scoring goalkeepers in history, with 41 goals overall.

Early life

Higuita was born in Castilla, a middle-low class neighborhood in the city of

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

, Antioquia, Colombia to Jorge Zapata and María Dioselina Higuita. His father left the family when Higuita was a child, so he was raised by his mother. His mother later died when he was very young, so he was taken care of by his grandmother Ana Felisa.

Club career

Higuita started his playing career with Millonarios and transferred to Atlético Nacional in 1986. He played the majority of his club career with the Colombian side where he helped the team win the Colombian League on two occasions as well as the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

and

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana () was an international association football, football competition endorsed by CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF ...

, both in 1989. The Copa Libertadores final went to a penalty shoot-out in which Higuita made four saves and scored one penalty himself. After leaving Atlético, he moved to Spain to play with

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

for one season, before going back to Atletico Nacional for four years. He then left for Mexico to play for

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before returning to the Colombian league to play for Atletico's city rivals, Independiente Medellín. He briefly retired in 2005 after failing a drug test while playing for Aucas. He came out of retirement on 21 July 2007 to sign for Venezuelan club Guaros FC. In January 2008, aged 41, he signed for Colombian second-division team Deportivo Rionegro. In June 2008 he signed for another Colombia team, Deportivo Pereira, and finally retired on 25 January 2010.

International career

Higuita's first major tournament was the 1987 Copa América, where the team was knocked out in the first round. In the

, he played an important part to lead the country into the round of 16 for the first time. However, Higuita's unorthodox playing style caused a mistake by him that knocked Colombia out of the World Cup, when he tried to feint

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

striker Roger Milla but failed, and Milla dispossessed him and scored, which put Cameroon through to the quarter-finals. Higuita described it as "a mistake as big as a house". As a result of such behaviour, Higuita was nicknamed ''El Loco'' ("The Madman"). He played in the 1991 Copa América where the team finished fourth. His last call-up for the national team was for the 1999 Copa América. Higuita often took set-pieces for the Colombia national team, in all, he scored three goals in his 68 international appearances.

Style of play

On the pitch, Higuita was known for his dramatic flair, composure under pressure, and eccentric playing style, often taking unnecessary risks and actively coming out of his area to anticipate opponents, play the ball out to defenders, undertake individual dribbling runs, and attempt to score goals, which led him to be described as a ' sweeper-keeper'; he was, therefore, a pioneer in influencing other goalkeepers to take more responsibility for situations farther from the goal. Although he was a goalkeeper, Higuita also became known for scoring directly from free-kicks, as well as penalties.

ranked Higuita the 8th best keeper in South American history.

Scorpion kick

Furthermore, Higuita reportedly invented the scorpion kick, a movement which involves the player jumping forward, positioning their legs over their head, and in doing so, kicking the ball away with their heels; one of Higuita's most notable uses of the scorpion was when he performed it while clearing a cross from Jamie Redknapp during a friendly against

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on 6 September 1995, earning him considerable media attention. It ranked 94th in

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's '' 100 Greatest Sporting Moments'' in 2002.100 Greatest sporting moments – results
''

''. Retrieved 28 August 2014

Coaching career

Higuita has expressed a wish to coach the Colombia national team and in December 2008 he got the job of goalkeeper coach for his former club

. He joined

Al Nassr FC Al-Nassr Football Club () is a professional Association football, football club based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The club competes in the Saudi Pro League, the top tier of the Saudi football league system. Al-Nassr is List of unrelegated assoc ...

in Saudi Arabia in 2011, and was the club goalkeeper coach for about 5 years, until 2016. He rejoined Atletico Nacional on 28 June 2017 after receiving a coaching job as the goalkeeping coach. Upon rejoining, he said "the dream of my life was to return to Atletico Nacional".

Personal life

Higuita was friends with

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

and played in the Argentine's farewell match in 2001. Higuita was imprisoned in 1993 after getting involved in a

kidnap Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

ping. Acting as a go-between for the drug barons

Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist, and politician who was the founder and leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed the "King of Cocaine", Escobar was one of the wealthie ...

and Carlos Molina, he was largely responsible for securing the release of Molina's daughter by delivering the ransom money. He received $64,000 for his services, which breaks Colombian law as it is an offence to profit from a kidnapping. He was incarcerated for seven months before being released without charge. Commenting on the case, he stated, "I'm a footballer, I didn't know anything about kidnapping laws." In the

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

documentary "The Two Escobars", Higuita claimed that he was arrested for visiting Pablo during his time in prison with the desire to thank him for turning himself in, thus stabilizing Colombia for a short period. He supported this theory claiming that all he was asked during questioning was solely about Pablo Escobar himself and no kidnapping. Because of the term in prison, Higuita was not fit 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 ...

. In another scandal, he tested positive for

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

on 23 November 2004 while playing for Aucas, an Ecuadorian football club. In 2005, Higuita participated in the reality TV program ''La Isla de Los famosos: Una Aventura Pirata'' ("The Island of the Famous: A Pirate Adventure"), a show similar to ''

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...

''. Also in 2005, he underwent plastic surgery to completely change his appearance. Higuita has expressed the wish to become more politically active. Higuita has three children; Cindy, Pamela (born in 1993), and Andres. In July 2024, the international online casino and sportsbook company Betsson, which has a large presence in his native Colombia, announced Higuita as a brand ambassador.

Career statistics

List of goals scored

* Higuita scored 43 goals at a professional level: From the

list of goalscoring goalkeepers Goals scored by goalkeepers are a somewhat rare event in association football, football. Goalkeeper (association football), Goalkeepers spend the majority of a match in the penalty area of their own team, a marked area around the goal they are d ...

, Higuita is currently (as of 2022) in position five of the most goal-scoring goalkeepers after Johnny Vegas Fernández. ** Penalties (35), free kicks (7) and 1 goal in regulation play via a kick from his area. **Clubs (40), International (3) ** Primera División de Colombia (31),

Primera División de México Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

(2), Segunda División de Colombia (2),

(5), Friendly matches with Colombia (2),

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 ...

(1).

Honours

Atlético Nacional *

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

; runner-up

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 ...

* Intercontinental Cup: runner-up

* Categoria Primera A: 1991, 1994 Colombia *

Third place:

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

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 ...

Individual *South American Team of the Year: 1989, 1990 * Golden Foot Legends Award: 2009

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 ...

Rene Higuita Career Info and Achievements

* René Higuita clips
Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higuita, Rene 1966 births Living people Footballers from Medellín Men's association football goalkeepers Colombian men's footballers Colombia men's under-20 international footballers Colombia men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players 1991 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players Millonarios F.C. players Atlético Nacional footballers Real Valladolid players C.D. Veracruz footballers Independiente Medellín footballers Real Cartagena footballers Atlético Junior footballers Deportivo Pereira footballers S.D. Aucas footballers Asociación Civil Deportivo Lara players Leones F.C. footballers Copa Libertadores–winning players Colombian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Venezuela Categoría Primera A players La Liga players Liga MX players Doping cases in association football Colombian sportspeople in doping cases Colombian people of African descent Guaros F.C. players 20th-century Colombian sportsmen