Slain Colombia star Escobar honoured on 20th anniversary

RIO DE JANEIRO: Campaigners using football to underpin social development on Wednesday met in Rio to honour the memory of Colombian footballer Andres Escobar, slain 20 years ago to the day.

“Today, we are celebrating Andres’ legacy,” said Juergen Griesbeck, a German former academic moved by the shooting of Escobar to create footballstreet-world, a non-profit urban culture movement now present in some 60 countries.

Griesbeck had just married a Colombian woman when Escobar was gunned down days after his own goal against hosts the United States knocked his team out of the 1994 World Cup.

His death has been widely blamed on the fury of Colombian drug lords at losing a gambling fortune because of the country’s World Cup exit.

Various other theories exist as to why Escobar was killed outside a nightclub in Medellin, which was also hosting a commemoration of his life Wednesday.

Griesbeck said he set up streetfootballworld in 2002 as his response to urban violence, using the Escobar case as a touchstone.

Colombian g reat Carlos Valderrama also paid tribute to the slain footballer. Using his Twitter handle ‘@PibeValderrama’ the former player wrote, “P ANDRES ESCOBAR siempre en el corazon de todos nosotros. Jamas olvidaremos tu bondad, humildad y lucha, te extraño hermano te extraño”. (Andrés ESCOBAR always at the heart of all of us. Never forget your kindness, humility and struggle, I miss you brother I miss you)