A COLOMBIAN football club boss was gunned down in front of his daughter only hours after his team was defeated on the pitch.
Edgar Paez, president of the Tigres Football Club, was returning home with his daughter when two men on a motorbike carried out the horror attack.
Colombian National Police said the 63-year-old suffered three fatal gunshot wounds in the suspected hired hit near the stadium at around 6:15pm on Saturday.
His daughter escaped unscathed, but Paez died of his injuries before reaching a nearby hospital.
Paez’s team had just been knocked to the bottom of their 16-team league after a 3-2 defeat earlier in the day – though it is unknown if the loss was related to the murder.
Police are currently investigating the murder as tributes have poured in for the football figurehead.
READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
Tigres FC released a statement reading: “The Tigres family and the sporting community are devastated by this event.
“His commitment to the team and his dedication to the development of the sport in our region left an indelible mark on all who had the privilege of knowing him.”
The President of the Major Division of Colombian Professional Football, Fernando Jaramillo, said: “He was always distinguished by his respect for his friends, by his strong but respectful positions and by the love he professed for the sport that we are all passionate about: football.”
Paez formerly directed Independiente Santa Fe, another football team based out of Bogota.
Most read in Football
A moment of silence will be held in memory of Paez in the next two matches played by Colombian teams.
Further questions about the circumstances of Paez’s death have continued to flood in in recent days.
One Twitter user said: “The murder of Paez should immediately cancel this championship. An unprecedented setback. What dark interests are behind it?”
Another user added: “It is unfortunate that these types of incidents persist in Colombian sports.”
One passionate Colombian fan shared: “In a decent country, the championship would have been suspended.
“May the murder of the president of Tigres be clarified and justice be done.”
In 2019, a South African football manager was shot dead outside of his stadium in a “spray of bullets.”
Siphiwo “Mawawa” Nyobo had just finished watching a match in East London, in Eastern South Africa.
He was boss of team Tornado FC and said to be a “prominent businessman” in the city.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
