Search: 'Nacional'

When their drug money dried up, one of Columbia’s most successful clubs experience their first ever relegation, writes Carl Worswick

América de Cali, Colombia’s best supported football club with 13 league titles and four appearances in the Copa Libertadores final, have hit the bottom. They were relegated in December following a play-off defeat to a team of minnows from the second division. The Red Devils are at their lowest ebb in their 84 years of existence.

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The Spanish national team are preparing for Euro 2012 with a series of taxing, but lucrative, friendlies. Dermot Corrigan explains

It was understandable that many England fans would happily celebrate last November’s 1-0 win over the reigning world and European champions at Wembley. There was, though, at least some recognition that Spain have not been at their best recently. Since winning the last World Cup, La selección have qualified for the summer’s Euro 2012 finals with a 100 per cent record. But they have also lost 4-1 to Argentina, 4-0 to Portugal and 2-1 to Italy in friendlies, while also drawing with Mexico and Chile. A number of reasons have been put forward for this, including less motivated players, highly motivated rivals, inter-club politics and the idea that extra substitutions helps opponents counter Spain’s tiki-taka style. A further factor should be added – money.

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Nick Dorrington wonders whether the return of a legendary figure will help to lift Columbian football from the doldrums

It is hard to view Colombia’s inability to qualify for the last three World Cups as anything other than a failure on behalf of the Colombian Football Federation (FCF) considering the popularity of football in South America’s second most populous nation. In the appointment of former national team coach Francisco Maturana to oversee the development of the country’s football the FCF believes it has a man capable of making the necessary changes to ensure more regular participation in future tournaments.

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James Calder recalls a time when the Colombian championship was dominated by well-paid foreign players

The long-term significance
The beginning of the end of El Dorado, the great Colombian gold rush. Blacklisted by FIFA following its foundation in 1948, the national professional league attracted some of the world’s leading players, lured by high wages funded by the country’s economic boom, massive attendances and a conservative government anxious to divert attention away from widespread and bloody political and social unrest.

Angered by the continuing exodus of its stars, the Argentinian FA complained of “piracy”, leading FIFA to expel Colombia in 1951. The dispute was ended shortly afterwards by the Pacto de Lima, an agreement by which an increasingly cash-strapped league agreed to let its well-paid imports return to their clubs of origin by October 15, 1954, in return for readmission to the international fold. The Colombian free-for-all also had an impact on the English game, the defection of a handful of players resulting in two sizeable increases in the maximum wage, which was eventually abolished in 1961.

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Hard-up clubs are establishing partnerships with other businesses in order to make ends meet. Robert Shaw reports

The lucrative business of representing and trading Brazilian players is no longer the exclusive preserve of a motley assortment of ex-players and wide boys. These days investment funds and a range of businesses, including supermarkets, are moving in.

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