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René Higuita facts for kids

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal family name is Higuita and the second or maternal family name is Zapata.
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René Higuita
René Higuita, 2007.jpg
Higuita in 2007
Personal information
Date of birth (1966-08-27) 27 August 1966 (age 58)
Place of birth Medellín, Colombia
Height 1.75 m
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Atlético Nacional (goalkeeper coach)
Youth career
Millonarios
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1985 Millonarios 16 (7)
1986–1992 Atlético Nacional 112 (1)
1992 Real Valladolid 15 (2)
1993–1997 Atlético Nacional 69 (1)
1997–1998 Veracruz 30 (2)
1999–2000 Independiente Medellín 20 (11)
2000–2001 Real Cartagena 21 (0)
2001–2002 Atlético Junior 4 (0)
2002–2003 Deportivo Pereira 13 (0)
2004 Aucas 35 (3)
2007 Guaros FC 10 (5)
2008 Deportivo Rionegro 10 (3)
2008–2009 Deportivo Pereira 12 (5)
Total 380 (41)
National team
1987–1999 Colombia 68 (3)
Honours
Men's football
Representing  Colombia
Copa América
Third 1993 Ecuador
Third 1995 Uruguay
  • Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

José René Higuita Zapata (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈne jˈɣita]; born 27 August 1966) is a Colombian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. 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, was pioneering in influencing goalkeepers to take more responsibility for situations farther from the goal.

IFFHS 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 Medellín, Antioquia to Jorge Zapata and Maria 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.

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 and Copa Interamericana, both in 1989. After leaving them, he moved to Spain to play with Real Valladolid for one season, before coming back to Atletico Nacional for four years. He then left for Mexico to play for Veracruz before coming back to the Colombian league to play for Atletico's city rivals, Independiente Medellín.

He briefly retired in 2005.

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 1989 Copa América, where the team was knocked out in the first round. In the 1990 FIFA World Cup, 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 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.

IFFHS 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, kicks 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 England at Wembley Stadium on 6 September 1995, earning him considerable media attention. It ranked 94th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments in 2002.

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 Real Valladolid.

He joined Al Nassr FC 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 and played in the Argentine's farewell match in 2001.

Higuita was imprisoned in 1993 after getting involved in a kidnapping. 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 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.

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. 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.

Career statistics

List of goals scored

Main article: List of goalscoring goalkeepers
  • Higuita scored 43 goals at a professional level: From the list of goalscoring goalkeepers, Higuita is currently (as of 2022) in position five of the most goal-scoring goalkeepers after Johnny Vegas Fern.
# Date Competition Opponent Type Score
Goals for Atlético Nacional (30)
1. 9 December 1987 Primera División Independiente Medellín Penalty kick 6–1
2. 20 March 1988 Penalty kick 2–1
3. 10 April 1988 Unión Magdalena Penalty kick 2–0
4. 1 May 1988 Millonarios Penalty kick 1–1
6. 17 July 1988 Atlético Bucaramanga Penalty kick 2–1
7. 13 August 1988 América de Cali Penalty kick 2–1
8. 31 August 1988 Sporting de Barranquilla Penalty kick 5–0
9. 3 September 1988 América de Cali Penalty kick 5–1
10. 13 October 1988 Once Caldas Penalty kick 2–0
11. 16 October 1988 Santa Fe Penalty kick 2–3
12. 30 October 1988 Deportivo Pereira Penalty kick 4–0
13. 8 December 1988 Deportes Quindío Penalty kick 3–0
14. 11 December 1988 América de Cali Penalty kick 1–0
16. 14 December 1988 Junior de Barranquilla Penalty kick 2–0
17. 15 February 1989 Copa Libertadores Millonarios Penalty kick 1–1
18. 24 February 1989 Deportivo Quito Penalty kick 1–1
20. 2 March 1989 Primera División Deportes Quindío Penalty kick 5–1
21. 19 March 1989 Deportivo Cali Penalty kick 2–1
22. 8 November 1989 América de Cali Penalty kick 2–2
23. 26 September 1990 Copa Libertadores Olimpia Penalty kick 3–2
24. 17 October 1990 Primera División Independiente Medellín Penalty kick 2–3
25. 11 March 1993 Copa Libertadores América de Cali Penalty kick 3–2
26. 6 April 1994 Primera División Cortuluá Penalty kick 1–0
27. 29 April 1994 Millonarios Penalty kick 1–1
28. 15 May 1994 Atlético Huila Penalty kick 1–3
29. 10 May 1995 Deportivo Pereira Free kick 3–1
30. 9 August 1995 Copa Libertadores River Plate Free kick 1–0
31. 7 October 1995 Primera División Independiente Medellín Penalty kick 2–1
32. 17 April 1996 Envigado Penalty kick 1–2
33. 9 April 1997 Deportivo Pereira Free kick 2–2
Goals for Veracruz (2)
34. 17 January 1998 Primera División América Penalty kick 2–5
35. 17 January 1998 Santos Laguna Penalty kick 5–1
Goals for Independiente Medellín (4)
36. 25 March 1999 Primera División Atlético Nacional Penalty kick 1–1
37. 2 May 1999 Santa Fe Free kick 4–2
38. 30 May 1999 Envigado Free kick 2–1
39. 18 June 1999 Atlético Nacional Free kick 1–1
Goals for Real Cartagena (2)
40. 28 May 2000 Primera División Santa Fe Penalty kick 2–0
41. 24 August 2000 Atlético Bucaramanga Penalty kick 1–2
Goals for Bajo Cauca (1)
42. 13 July 2003 Segunda División Pumas de Casanare Own penalty area 2–3
Goals for Deportivo Rionegro (1)
43. 28 March 2008 Segunda División Valledupar FC Free kick 4–1
International goals for Colombia (3)
5. 19 May 1988 Friendly  Finland Penalty kick 3–1
15. 3 February 1989 Copa Centenario de Armenia  Peru Penalty kick 1–0
19. 3 July 1989 Copa América  Venezuela Penalty kick 4–2

Honours

Atlético Nacional

Colombia

Individual

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

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: René Higuita para niños

  • List of doping cases in sport
  • List of goalscoring goalkeepers
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