Freddy Rincón, who died at the age of 55 as a result of injuries he suffered in a car accident, received tributes from hundreds of fans at the wake held in Buenaventura, his hometown, this Friday (15).
The former player’s body will be veiled again this Saturday (16), in Cali, at the Pascual Guerrero stadium, home of América de Cali, one of the first clubs of his career. The burial is scheduled for 18:00 local time (20:00 GMT).
Champion in several clubs, highlight of the great generation of football players in Colombia and remembered for his time at Corinthians, the club where he won the 2000 Club World Cup, Rincón was hospitalized with traumatic brain injury and underwent surgery after the vehicle in which he was hit by a bus in the early hours of Monday (11) in Cali.
According to local authorities, the car ran a red light at high speed and was hit sideways. Two women in the car suffered minor injuries. On Wednesday night (13), already at dawn on Thursday (14) in Brazil, Rincón’s death was announced.
As fans pay their respects, police investigate the causes of the accident and suspect that there was a fourth person in the car, as yet unidentified – the head trauma suffered by Rincón leads authorities to assume that Rincón was in the front passenger seat of the vehicle. , near the crash site with the bus.
Sebastián Rincón, the former player’s son, said in an interview with local media that his father was not driving the car at the time of the collision and that he expects the alleged driver of the vehicle to be honest about the circumstances of the accident.
In recent days, several clubs – such as the Brazilians Corinthians, Palmeiras, Santos and Cruzeiro – and entities and personalities from the world of football mourned the death of the former player and paid tribute to him.
Former Colombian coach Francisco Maturana said he feels Freddy Rincón’s death like the loss of a son and praised the player’s skill and personality, whose career he helped propel.
“I cannot separate Freddy from the entire national team because he is a son. All these boys are my children and I am proud of them,” said the 73-year-old.
Maturana was one of Rincón’s first coaches and led him in the historic team of the 1990s, which played in three World Cups (1990, 1994 and 1998) and also consisted of Valderrama and Asprilla.
The Colombian Football Federation praised the former player’s career and recalled that Rincón was the first athlete in the country to wear the Real Madrid shirt. “A regrettable loss to our sport. We will miss him and remember him with great affection, appreciation, respect and admiration.”
The Municipality of Cali declared three days of official mourning, and the President of Colombia, Iván Duque, offered his condolences.
“He was and always will be a great idol of Colombian football. Thank you for all this magic and this strength that inspired us and filled us with unforgettable moments”, wrote Duque on Twitter.
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