What became of… René Higuita

Previously… RenéHiguita was a Colombian goalkeeper who played professional football for 25 seasons, the majority of which were spent in his home country. He landed in the Liga BBVA at the start of the 1991-92 season to join R. Valladolid CF. He also played in the 1990 World Cup in Italy with Colombia.

His achievements… RenéHiguita is known above all for his specialist save, which he christened ‘the scorpion kick’, which consisted of saving a shot by diving forward and booting the ball away with his his heel. Valladolid fans never got to enjoy a save like that, as he played just 15 games for the club, chalking up 1,350 minutes and conceding 23 goals.

After hanging up his boots… RenéHiguita retired from football in 2009 and started a career in coaching. He has been the goalkeeper coach of Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia since 2011.

Did you know… Colombia’s fine display at the 1990 World Cup attracted the interest of R. Valladolid and the following summer the club bought three players from that team: RenéHiguita, Carlos Valderrama and Leonel Álvarez. They also brought in the coach of that Colombia side, Francisco Maturana, to take charge of the team.