Miguel Ángel Calero Rodríguez (14 April 1971 – 4 December 2012) was a Colombian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He played 50 times for the Colombia national team between 1995 and 2007. While playing in Colombia, Calero won two championships, one with

Deportivo Cali Asociación Deportivo Cali, best known as Deportivo Cali, is a Colombian sports club based in Cali, most notable for its football team, which currently competes in the Categoría Primera A. Deportivo Cali is one of the most successful football t ...

(1996) and another one with

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the other ...

(1998). In Mexico, he played 23 tournaments with Club Pachuca and won 10 cups with the team. At an international level, Calero won four

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

s and the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

in 2006; he also won the

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil were the two-time defending cha ...

with Colombia's national team.

Career

Calero was born in Ginebra, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, but later became a

Mexican citizen Nationality in Mexico is defined by multiple laws, including the 30th article of the Constitution of Mexico and other laws. The Constitution's 32nd article specifies the rights granted by Mexican legislation to Mexicans who also possess dual nat ...

. He played for

winning the 1996 Copa Mustang Division Mayor: Primera A championship title and

Colombia, then moving to C.F. Pachuca,

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, where he was captain of the team. With Pachuca, he won four national championships, three CONCACAF Champions Cups, one Copa Sudamericana and one SuperLiga title. He scored a goal against

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

on 11 August 2002. He played for the Colombia national team and was a participant at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

and at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

. In

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

he was part of the Colombia team that won their first ever

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

championship. He was known for wearing a baseball cap as a goalkeeper and a bandana, and for having a pair of wings on the back of his jersey around his number, 1. These wings symbolize his nickname, " El Cóndor". After a poor performance in Copa América 2007, which included a 5–0 loss to Paraguay, Calero announced his retirement from the Colombia national team. On 23 October 2011, Calero played his last game with Pachuca and retired from football.

Health deterioration and death

Calero was hospitalized on 26 November 2012 after he suffered from a

cerebral thrombosis A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...

at his home in Pachuca. After suffering from a second cerebral thrombosis episode, Calero was pronounced clinically

brain dead Brain death is the permanent, irreversible, and complete loss of brain function, which may include cessation of involuntary activity (e.g., breathing) necessary to sustain life. It differs from persistent vegetative state, in which the person i ...

on 3 December 2012. For the rest of the day, he remained on life support but the injuries were irreversible. At a public conference on noon of 4 December, Calero was declared dead. His funeral was held in

Pachuca, Hidalgo Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexican state of Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality for which the ...

, home of his tenured club

CF Pachuca Club de Fútbol Pachuca is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Pachuca, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football league system, Mexican football. Founded in 1892 as ...

. After the ceremonies, Calero was later cremated and his remains were divided with one half of it sent to his native

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, whereas the rest stayed in Mexico.

Honors

Deportivo Cali *

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a professional association football league in Colombia and the highest level of the Colombian ...

: 1996 Atletico Nacional * Categoría Primera A: 1999 Pachuca * Mexican Championship: Invierno 2001, Apertura 2003, Clausura 2006, Clausura 2007. *

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

: 2002, 2007, 2008, 2010. * Copa Nissan Sudamericana: 2006 *

North American SuperLiga The SuperLiga was an annual association football competition in North America between four clubs from the Major League Soccer (United States and Canada) and four clubs from the Primera División (Mexico), the top professional league in each count ...

: 2007 Colombia *

: 2001

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Calero, Miguel 1971 births 2012 deaths Colombian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Colombia men's international footballers Colombia men's under-20 international footballers Deportivo Cali footballers Atlético Nacional footballers C.F. Pachuca players Categoría Primera A players Liga MX players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1991 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1997 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players 2001 Copa América players 2007 Copa América players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Copa Sudamericana–winning players CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Colombia Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Colombian emigrants to Mexico Naturalized citizens of Mexico Copa América–winning players Deaths from cerebral thrombosis Neurological disease deaths in Mexico Footballers from Valle del Cauca Department Association football players with retired numbers 20th-century Colombian sportsmen