Football inspires him. Although a chapter of his life with the ball was ungrateful and marked the end of his volatile career as a professional, Vittorio Fernando Márquez Calderón writes books where he gives free rein to his imagination with characters, situations and real football scenarios.
He is indistinguishable from the sport in which he enjoyed a golden age in the Atlantic teams and which led him to join the Junior reserve team and train with legendary footballers such as Brazilians Victor Ephanor, Leonardo Augusto Caldeira and Ney, among others The Oliveira. .
Impossible to dribble so many memories and experiences to the goal. Therefore, Vittorio, who was an elegant and warm creative midfielder, twice national champion (1970 and 1974), gives free rein to his pen without letting go of the green rectangle and the two arcs that marked his existence.
THE RED AND WHITE DREAM
Vittorio recounts that in 1972, when he already had a salary in the team ($3,500) and was closer to the first division, an injury and character frustrated his pursuit to stay and consolidate in Junior.
“In a reserve game against Quindío, where I headed a ball that ended in a goal, Gregorio Peralta injured my left cheekbone. They operated on me and put a plate on me,” recalls Márquez.
He assures that after several days of disability and recovery, he showed up at the club to restart his path, but surprisingly for him, he dropped his thumb. “Nahún Arroyo (manager at the time) told me that I no longer had a contract, that I had to train with the youth.”
He was outraged, upset and abandoned his dream of becoming a great professional football player. “I accelerated, I made a mistake,” admits Vittorio Márquez. “But it was also unfair that they lowered me,” he adds.
“Ney De Oliveira once asked me how much he earned and I answered him that 3,500 pesos. He grimaced and said to me, “You should win 10 thousand, because you play very well!” I was able to play in the first division, I had quality, the problem was the injury,” he says with a touch of nostalgia.
He never stopped playing. He found refuge in amateur and recreational football to indulge his passion, but he ventured into the world of literature.
A NEW PASSION
First he ventured to create a comic book centered on nothing more and nothing less than Carlos Valderrama. He spoke to ‘El Pibe’, asked him for permission to use his image and even asked to join him in marketing it. It was the year 2007.
“I knocked on a lot of doors, but nothing, the mice took the book for their sprees,” says Vittorio, who is part of the family that owns the Catamaran restaurant, and part of his career, after settling in retired from professional football, was devoted to that business.
The drive he may have lacked to get ahead in football has been left over from trying to give birth and promote his books. He has already written two: ‘Soñando en grande’, dedicated to Valderrama, and ‘Cuentos del fútbol’, a compendium of 49 stories that mix old Colombian football anecdotes with the fantasy that comes from Vittorio’s head.
Source: El heraldo
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
