Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga (13 March 1967 – 2 July 1994) was a Colombian footballer who played as a defender.
He played for Atlético Nacional, BSC Young Boys, and the Colombia national team. Nicknamed 'The Gentleman', he was well-known for his clean style of play and calmness on the pitch.
Escobar was murdered in the aftermath of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, reportedly as retaliation for having scored an own goal which contributed to the team's elimination from the tournament.
The murder of Andrés Escobar tarnished the image of the country internationally. Escobar himself had worked to promote a more positive image of Colombia, earning acclaim within Colombia.
In 2013, then-coach Francisco Maturana denied that Escobar's murder had any connection to football or the World Cup, but rather was due to his being "in the wrong place at the wrong time" at a violent time in Colombia's history.
Escobar is still held in the highest regard by Colombian fans and is especially mourned and remembered by Atlético Nacional's fans.
Escobar is known for his famous line 'Life doesn't end here'. Twenty four years on, Andrés Escobar remains known around the world as the tragic Colombian footballer who was brutally 'killed for scoring an own goal'.
It’s a rather simplistic conclusion which his former manager feels does events of the time little justice.
“Our society believed that soccer killed Andrés,” Francisco Maturana has since opined, going on to suggest that in fact “Andrés was a soccer player killed by society.”
#hivisasaworldcup