A youth soccer coach was shot and killed on Sunday after a match about 50 miles southeast of Bogota.
Caracol radio identified the coach as Alvaro Poveda, but authorities have offered few details about the shooting following match involving his club, Acacias.
The murder took place at a national under-15 soccer tournament in the Meta department just after Poveda’s team played Bogota-based Estrella Roja.
“When I was leaving the stadium I waited inside because it was raining. When I heard shots, the referees who were at the game came into the stadium and said ‘boys, they hurt the coach.’ I ran and when I arrived he was already dead,” the coach’s wife told the radio station.
Violence involving soccer is not uncommon in Colombia. National team defender Andres Escobar was shot and killed following the 1994 World Cup after he scored an own-goal in a 2-1 loss to the United States.
