In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, football (soccer for American sports fans, but this review will call it football) in Columbia was ruled, just like the country, by the powerful drug cartels. One man personified this era for both the sport and the political landscape – Pablo Escobar. His story of ruthlessness, riches and eventual death is told in this excellent book by David Arrowsmith.

The book centers on Escobar’s main two loves – power and football. For the former, the reader will read about Escobar’s rise through the organized crime network that supplied many nations, especially the United States, with cocaine. It didn’t matter who may have stood in his way, Escobar would find a way to either take them over or have them eliminated. This sadly led to much violence and crime in the country and especially in Escobar’s hometown of Medellin.

As for the football, Escobar and other drug lords and cartels were the financial backing for most of the Columbian teams. This grew out of Escobar’s love for the game early on and grew until he controlled several clubs and had an extended influence on the Columbian national team. They improved each year and played in the two World Cups during the time frame of the book, 1990 and 1994. In 1990, Columbia did advance out of group play but lost their first game in the knockout round to eventual champion West Germany. Thanks to even more financing (and the crime and threats that go with it), the 1994 was even stronger and expected to go far in the tourney.

By now, Arrowsmith has painted a complete picture of not only Escobar’s crimes, power and downfall. This led to his death in 1993, before the 1994 World Cup. However, many cartels and leaders still were influencing the sport, but they would soon decline and by the late 1990’s their influence was practically nil. However, there was one more tragic event that came about due to this combination of crime, power and football. The 1994 Columbia team didn’t advance out of group play, with the most stunning loss coming at the hands of the host USA team 2-1. The first USA goal was an own goal by the excellent Columbian defender Andres Escobar (no relation to Pablo). After the tournament was over and the Columbian team returned home, Andres Escobar was murdered after going to a nightclub with friends. The reason was never confirmed and there are a few theories behind the death as Arrowsmith points out, but it did show the power of “narcoball” – the term used for this era of Columbian footba.ll

I wish to thank the publisher for providing a review copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Pablo Escobar - the most notorious Columbian drug lord, with a major obsession with football (soccer).

This book is not just about football, but also the cartels/clubs.1980's in Columbia.

Broad read, for someone who is interested in this topic.

Thank you NetGalley and Cassell Publishing for my RDC.