At the age of 83, former soccer player Rolando ‘El Loco’ Serrano passed away, who played as a midfielder in the Colombian National Team and was the grandfather of tennis player María Camila Osorio.
Through its Twitter account, the Colombian Football Federation lamented the death of the footballer and sent a message of support to his family.
“This is a great loss for his family and friends, and it is also an unfortunate departure for our sport, where we will miss him and remember him with great affection, appreciation, respect and admiration,” the Federation said.
The midfielder was born in Pamplona on November 13, 1938, Norte de Santander, and was part of different Colombian teams such as Cúcuta Deportivo, América de Cali, Unión Magdalena, Millonarios and Junior.
He was also part of the team that played in the 1962 World Cup in Chile. There, he was a key player in the match against the Soviet Union in which Colombia was losing 4 goals by 0 and managed to draw 4-4.
Serrano was also coach of Deportivo Cúcuta in three different periods 1981-82, 1985 and 1990.
The Government of Norte de Santander also lamented his death and assured that he was: “a historic player from Cúcuta Deportivo […] whom we recognize as one of the greatest of the rojinegro”.
Precisely, the former athlete died in Cúcuta, where he had lived for several decades.
Former player Sergio Angulo lamented the death of Serrano. “Professor Rolando Serrano, may your soul rest in peace. I will never forget that you were like a father to me in my first year as a professional player at Cúcuta Deportivo, “he wrote on his social networks.
In addition to his sports legacy, the former player imprinted his love for sports on his family since his daughter was a basketball player, his grandson Sebastián Osorio was a professional soccer player and played with Fortaleza and Alianza Petrolera and his granddaughter María Camila Osorio, tennis player 61 in the world ranking and winner of the US Open Junior in 2019 and the WTA 250 in Bogotá in 2021.
The Colombian Tennis Federation also published a message lamenting the death of the athlete. “The Colombian Tennis Federation sends a message of condolences to Camila Osorio, after the death of her grandfather Rolando Serrano,” the federation published with a message for the tennis player.
Rolando ‘El Loco’ Serrano received multiple tributes throughout his life. One of the most recent was in December 2021 in the U-17 Cup at the Gran Colombiano stadium in Villa del Rosario.
In 2012, he received an award from the Colombia Mayor program for his time in Chile 1962 and in 2018, at the General Santander stadium, he made an honorary kick-off in a Cúcuta Deportivo game.
The tennis player María Camila Osorio, granddaughter of the athlete, published a story on her social networks giving her grandfather a hug with a short message: “rest in peace”.
It is worth remembering that the Colombian was recently eliminated from the Birmingham Tournament after losing 6-2 and 6-0 against the British Harriet Dart (106th).
The elimination of Osorio leaves as the only representative of South American tennis in the individual draw of this competition the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (32nd), who won the Nottingham tournament on Sunday and who will face the Czech Petra Kvitova (31st) in the first round of this event.
It should be remembered that this is the second elimination of the tennis player from Cucuta in a week, because last Tuesday, June 7, Camila Osorio lost in the first round of the Nottingham Tournament against the Greek Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3. Despite these defeats, she has managed to maintain her position in the WTA world rankings.
