Colombia’s biggest opponents? Colombia. Maybe this World Cup will give their fans true happiness – The Athletic
As part of our Language of Soccer World Cup series, The Athletic is speaking to supporters of all 48 nations competing at the 2026 edition to capture their unique football culture, distilled into a single phrase. You can read the articles in one place here.
Alegría — Happiness
If there is a player who best represents Colombia’s football culture, it is legendary midfield playmaker Carlos Valderrama. The mercurial No 10 was the leader of their heralded teams of the 1990s. His blond, cloud-like hair was free-flowing. His flair on the ball and elite field vision made Valderrama a global football star.
More than anything, though, Valderrama’s play style conjured wide smiles and rabid emotion from Colombia’s supporters. El Pibe (the Kid), as he is best known, retired from international football in 1998. He represented Colombia at three World Cup tournaments and wore his country’s colors in more than 100 matches.
Valderrama remains the heart and soul of Colombian football culture. In a 2021 interview with The Athletic, he described his life after football in one word: Alegría. It translates as happiness or joy.
“That’s my lifestyle. Happiness,” Valderrama said.
Carlos Valderrama was one of world football’s most recognizable faces during the 1990s (Simon Bruty/Allsport)
Valderrama and his teammates had many highs, including a 5-0 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires in 1993. But there were heartbreaking lows, as well, like their shock group-stage elimination from the following year’s World Cup and its tragic aftermath.
Daniel Sandoval, 36, founder of Colombian supporters’ group Parceros United, says that Valderrama epitomizes how Colombians feel about their national team.
“Watching him was like a party for the whole world,” says Sandoval. “If you saw El Pibe play, you were celebrating. That 5-0 win — how did we take down Argentina? With swagger. We danced around them. At the end of the day, it’s our essence, our joy.”
Parceros United started in the U.S. city of Atlanta in 2018. It has grown to become a multinational supporters’ group that brings Colombians together from all over the world. In Colombia, a parcero is a friend. The group’s tagline is “Everyone is a Parcero”, and it has gradually grown its footprint on social media to now have nearly 100,000 followers across its channels.
It regularly hosts watch parties throughout the United States, particularly in cities where Colombia play friendlies or official matches. But a Parceros United watch party or pre-match tailgate is uniquely Colombian. A DJ blasts salsa music and reggaeton. The popular Colombian liquor aguardiente is passed around liberally. There is a youthful energy about the group.
Members of the Parceros United fan group (Edgar Torres)
Sandoval doesn’t miss a Colombia game when they play in the U.S. and also routinely travels to South America to attend their World Cup qualifiers. An engineer by day, Sandoval, who is rarely without a smile on his face, didn’t hesitate when asked what the team means to him. “For me, it is joy, unity, and family,” he says.
“For us,” adds Melissa Bedoya, 26, a psychologist and football content creator based in Medellín, the South American country’s second largest city. “Maybe individually a Colombian can go unnoticed, but together, everything is amplified. Wherever we show up, we make noise.”
The sea of yellow replica shirts that follows the team, referred to by Colombians as “la fierbe amarilla” (Yellow Fever) around the world, is among the more recognizable color palettes in world football.
Colombia fans have taken over stadiums at World Cups in Brazil and Russia following the men’s side, and most recently in New Zealand during the 2023 Women’s World Cup. They were also strongly supported during the 2024 men’s Copa América, which was staged in the United States.
Colombia fans make themselves seen and heard at major tournaments (Rodrigo Buendia/AFP via Getty Images)
Led by Luis Diaz and James Rodriguez, Colombia reached the final of that tournament, where they lost 1-0 to world champions Argentina.
Fans of Los Cafeteros (The Coffee Growers) filled NFL stadiums across the nation — in Glendale, Arizona; Houston, Texas; Santa Clara, California; Charlotte, North Carolina and Miami, Florida.
That final was sadly marred by a near-tragic stampede before the match. Thousands of fans in Colombia and Argentina jerseys attempted to breach the southwest entrance of Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium by force. After spending several hours that afternoon under the Florida sun waiting for admittance and in need of water, people began to faint. Men, women and children pleaded with security staff as they became pressed against one another. Colombians in particular were singled out for criticism during and after the chaos.
“Colombian fans always receive good feedback, except for the last game in Miami,” says Houston-based Anita Pernett, 40. “Unfortunately, a few people don’t know how to behave, but the well-behaved ones outnumber them.”
Colombians are eager to show the world during this tournament that the mayhem of that Copa América final is not representative of their culture. Members of Parceros United who spoke to The Athletic for this article reiterated that unity, emotion and joy are what define the Colombian fanbase off the pitch.
Members of the Parceros United group value the unity they get from supporting their team together (Emmanuel Castaneda)
Edgar Torres, 55, lives in Sacramento, California. He’s the elder statesman of the group. Some members facetiously refer to him as ‘El tío’ (The uncle). His opinions are measured and eloquent. “The national team is all about family,” he says. Yet, Torres, like most Colombia fans, recognizes that good vibes and goal celebration dances can only get a national team so far.
The 2026 version of Colombia is considered a dark horse World Cup contender. The team’s performance at the Copa América two years ago, and its final stretch of World Cup qualifying (going unbeaten in five games to finish third behind Argentina and Ecuador), have placed elevated expectations on manager Nestor Lorenzo’s side.
Colombia, however, have never progressed beyond the quarterfinals of a World Cup, getting that far only once, at Brazil 2014. They have also won the Copa América just once, in 2001 on home soil — a tournament Argentina opted out of for security reasons, and one that included a depleted Brazil squad. Valderrama and company were tipped as among the favorites in 1994, as well.
“Colombia’s biggest opponent at this World Cup… is Colombia. It’s the mentality,” says Torres.
Geographically, Colombia’s fiercest competition has always been with Venezuela and Ecuador. Those clasicos are born of proximity rather than parity. But Argentina, despite having won three World Cups and a record 16 Copas América, is Colombia’s measuring stick now. That 2024 Copa América final made it official. And when Colombia earned a win and a draw in the two subsequent World Cup qualifiers against them, the modern rivalry was ignited.
However, psychological resilience has always been part of Argentina’s footballing DNA. Colombia is not known for its mental fortitude.
“Statistically, Colombia has been the best team against Argentina in the (Lionel) Scaloni era,” Sandoval says of the past eight years. “But at the end of the day, we go in with that Colombian mentality — that there’s always a moment where we let our guard down and we blow it.”
“I would say our big (rival) is Argentina, although that might sound crazy considering the titles they have won recently,” added Jay Obando, 22, a Colombian-American from the Queens borough of New York City. “But I think at this moment those are the two best teams in CONMEBOL (the South American federation).”
“The Colombian player,” adds Bedoya, “doesn’t read the moment. With four minutes left and a man open, he’ll try to beat five defenders and score the goal of his life.”
Some World Cup tournaments have been cruel to Colombia. Others have provided incredible moments of joy, or alegría.
This time, a versatile and attack-minded side will hope to make history in a 48-team field. But no matter how far Colombia goes over the coming weeks, their fans will look to make parceros out of everyone they come across.
“We know that if we’re going to have a party, we’re going to invite everyone,” says Sandoval. “And everybody is welcome.”
If Sandoval set the table, Pernett brought the drinks.
“We’re going to arrive with joy,” she adds. “We’re going to show up with aguardiente. We’re going to come with the best attitude. And everybody will know that we were there.”
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