René Higuita

Higuita started his playing career with Millonarios and transferred to Atlético Nacional in 1986. He played the majority of his club career with the Colombian side where he helped the team win the Colombian League on two occasions as well as the Copa Libertadores and Copa Interamericana, both in 1989. The Copa Libertadores final went to a penalty shoot-out in which Higuita made four saves and scored one penalty himself. After leaving Atlético, he moved to Spain to play with Real Valladolid for one season, before going back to Atletico Nacional for four years. He then left for Mexico to play for Veracruz before returning to the Colombian league to play for Atletico's city rivals, Independiente Medellín. He briefly retired in 2005 after failing a drug test while playing for Aucas. He came out of retirement on 21 July 2007 to sign for Venezuelan club Guaros FC. In January 2008, aged 41, he signed for Colombian second-division team Deportivo Rionegro. In June 2008 he signed for another Colombia team, Deportivo Pereira, and finally retired on 25 January 2010.

Higuita's first major tournament was the 1987 Copa América, where the team was knocked out in the semi-finals. In the 1990 FIFA World Cup, he played an important part to lead the country into the round of 16 for the first time. However, Higuita's unorthodox playing style caused a mistake by him that knocked Colombia out of the World Cup, when he tried to feint Cameroon striker Roger Milla but failed, and Milla dispossessed him and scored, which put Cameroon through to the quarter-finals. Higuita described it as "a mistake as big as a house". As a result of such behaviour, Higuita was nicknamed El Loco ("The Madman"). Due to his imprisonment in 1993, Higuita was not deemed fit to be picked for Colombia's 1994 FIFA World Cup squad. He played in the 1991 Copa América where the team finished fourth. His last call-up for the national team was for the 1999 Copa América. Higuita often took set-pieces for the Colombia national team; in all, he scored three goals in his 68 international appearances.

Higuita has expressed a wish to coach the Colombia national team and in December 2008 he got the job of goalkeeper coach for his former club Real Valladolid. He joined Al Nassr FC in Saudi Arabia in 2011, and was the club goalkeeper coach for about 5 years, until 2016. He rejoined Atletico Nacional on 28 June 2017 after receiving a coaching job as the goalkeeping coach. Upon rejoining, he said "the dream of my life was to return to Atletico Nacional".

Higuita was born in Castilla, a middle-low class neighborhood in the city of Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia to Jorge Zapata and María Dioselina Higuita. His father left the family when Higuita was a child, so he was raised by his mother. His mother later died when he was very young, so he was taken care of by his grandmother Ana Felisa.