Hernán Darío Gómez

He was an active player from 1966 to 1985, when he retired after a knee injury. Gómez played for the Colombia amateur team that participated at the 1978 Central American and Caribbean Games. His career as a coach started while being assistant to Francisco Maturana while at Atlético Nacional and winning the 1989 Copa Libertadores. He would then become head coach in 1991 and led them to a Categoria Primera A title in 1991. He joined Maturana while he became coach of Colombia and was his assistant at the 1987 Copa America where Colombia got third place. He also helped qualify the team to the 1990 FIFA World Cup and 1994 edition as well. This was during the so-called golden generation of Colombian football. In 1995, he was named head coach of Colombia and qualified them for the 1998 FIFA World Cup Colombia's fourth appearance overall and third consecutive appearance at the tournament. They went out at group stage with one win and two losses. He successfully led Ecuador to their first World Cup finals in 2002. However, he resigned after a disappointing performance by the Ecuadorian team at the 2004 Copa América. During the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, he was a commentator for Canal RCN. On 5 May 2010, the Colombian Football Federation announced that Gómez was appointed as the successor of Eduardo Lara, who left the selection after failing to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals. On 13 February 2012, he took charge of Independiente Medellin, six months after resigning as…

On 6 August 2011, at the pub "El Bembe" in Bogotá, Gómez attacked an unidentified woman. According to witnesses, Gómez hit the woman at least four times near the entrance of the pub where he was accompanied by the woman minutes before. When the facts were known, Gómez released a statement asking for forgiveness for his behavior and resigned to his participation as a member of the technical committee of the U-20 World Football Championship. However multiple organizations, like 'Casa de la Mujer', expressed their discontent with Gómez's actions and asked for his resignation as manager of the Colombian football team. Finally because of pressure from the media, the Colombian football team's sponsors, political and social celebrities and the general public, he resigned as the manager of the Colombian football team.