Santiago Castrillon tragically died at the age of 18. (Image: santi.camaron_10/Instagram)
Tributes have poured in for a teenage footballer who passed away in hospital after collapsing during a match. Santiago Castrillon, a promising young talent for Millonarios, the second most successful club in Colombia, which competes in the top-flight Primera A league, died a day after he was rushed to the hospital.
The Bogota-based club, also known as The Blue Ballet, issued a statement honouring the 18-year-old, who wore the number 10 shirt. It read: « Millonarios FC reports that on Saturday player Santiago Castrillon suffered a collapse during a National U-20 Tournament match.
« He was immediately attended to by the team’s doctors and transferred by ambulance to a high-complexity hospital in the north of Bogota, where he was treated in intensive care by all specialists in the cardiovascular area.
« Despite medical efforts, Santiago was unable to recover and passed away this Sunday in the company of his family, teammates, and friends. »
It added, referencing the club’s ‘The Blues’ nickname: « Today football comes to a stop. The blue heart is broken. Today pain overwhelms us, fills us with helplessness and sadness. With deep sorrow we bid farewell to our number 10, our teammate, our friend.
« Santiago didn’t just play football. He lived it, felt it, shared it with a smile that today remains etched in all of us. We raise our prayers for his soul. To his family and loved ones, a message of strength in this moment that is impossible to understand. Santiago, our dear teammate, rest in peace. »
The attacking midfielder, who would have been 19 in September, was born in the city of Bucaramanga, the capital of the department of Santander in north-central Colombia. He joined Millonarios in 2021.
Castrillon was playing against Millonarios’s arch-rivals, Independiente Santa Fe, when he collapsed.
Santiago Castrillon with Millonarios. (Image: santi.camaron_10/Instagram)
Luis Eduardo Pedraza, a teacher at Guayos FC where the youngster began playing club football before moving to Bogota, said in an interview before the tragedy: « Santi is an excellent person, he is a very hardworking, very humble, very disciplined boy, very passionate about soccer, with a clear vision of what he wanted; since he was a child he was always like that. »
« From a footballing perspective, he was extraordinary; he had qualities that at his age were dazzling. Back then, he was a skinny kid, but with very good technique, a good change of pace, and he handled both sides of his game very well. »
Before his death, Castrillon trained regularly with the Millonarios first team and in October last year received his first official call-up for a BetPlay match against Atletico Bucaramanga.
Independiente Santa Fe, whose players prayed for Castrillon at the end of Saturday’s fixture after he was taken to hospital, shared their own statement: « Independiente Santa Fe deeply regrets the passing of Santiago Castrillon, U-20 player for Millonarios.
« Today football is in mourning, and we come together to support his entire family and loved ones during this difficult time. »
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