The story of Pablo Escobar and his involvement in Colombian Football

The School of Football is back with the extraordinary tale of the beautiful game, and its relationship with the world’s most notorious criminal.

‘The King of Cocaine’ managed to exert his influence on pretty much every facet of Columbian society and football was no different.

Escobar, who was many things during his life, was an avid football fan. A passion that would ultimately see him at the centre of the Colombian game’s rise and fall from the 1980s to 1994.

Bankrolling his hometown club

In 1976 he founded the Medellín Drug Cartel. During the height of their operations they were bringing in €70 million per day, so he turned to football as one of many ways to launder his money.

As well as building pitches in local barrios that helped develop future internationals, his influence on the game grew exponentially when he bankrolled his hometown club, Atlético Nacional in the mid-80s.

Escobar was never appointed in any official position at the club but his involvement wasn’t a secret.

Francisco Maturana, Nacional’s manager between 1987-1990 famously said,

‘The introduction of drug money into soccer allowed us to bring in great foreign players’.

The Kingpin wins the Copa

This cash injection culminated in the club’s crowning moment in 1989, when their team became the first Colombian side to win the Copa Libertadores. With Don Pablo in attendance, Nacional recovered from being 2-0 down after the first leg to eventually win the tie on penalties

After the game, Nacional’s players were summoned to Escobar’s ranch for an historic party. The club had taken the Colombian domestic game to new heights.

Not the only drug dealer in football

Escobar wasn’t the only drug lord involved in the game, Gonzalo Gacha and the Orejuela brothers were backing Millonarios and América Cali respectively. So when Escobar was shot dead in December 1993 their power grew.

The 1994 World Cup in America ended the golden era of Colombian football before it really took off.

Colombia went into the WC having lost just 1 in 34 games but they didn’t make it out of the group. In the 2-1 defeat to the USA, defended Andrés Escobar scored an own goal. When he returned home he was shot by gangsters with connections to cartel boss, Santiago Gallón.

After the WC Colombia fell to 34 in the world rankings, Nacional wouldn’t win a league title for 11 years and a Colombian side didn’t win the Copa Libertadores again until 2004.

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