Colombia’s World Cup campaign ended in Vancouver on Tuesday when Switzerland prevailed 4-3 on penalties after a goalless draw through 120 minutes. The decisive moment of the round-of-16 tie arrived in the 114th minute of extra time, when substitute Jaminton Campaz, played through by a defensive error, fired over the crossbar from inside the area with only goalkeeper Gregor Kobel to beat. Campaz later converted his spot-kick in the shootout, but the miss proved the defining image of the night for Colombian supporters.

Within hours, the 26-year-old Rosario Central winger became the target of a torrent of abuse and death threats on social media, directed at both him and his family, including his five-year-old daughter. Colombian media reported that the volume of hostile messages was so severe that Campaz did not board the team’s charter flight from Vancouver to Bogotá, instead remaining in Canada as a security precaution. He restricted comments on his Instagram account and posted a photograph of himself crouched on the pitch in frustration, alongside a message that read: “My Colombia, please let us never lose sight of respect. We may think differently or feel frustration and sadness, but no passion justifies hatred or living in fear.”

The threats immediately revived memories of the darkest chapter in Colombian football history. In 1994, defender Andrés Escobar was shot dead in Medellín days after scoring an own goal in a group-stage defeat to the United States. Colombian outlets and international observers drew a direct line between that murder and the current intimidation, noting that the country’s 1980s and 1990s drug-cartel violence had long cast a shadow over the national team. The Colombian Football Federation (FCF) issued a statement on Friday categorically rejecting “threats against the life and integrity of Jaminton Campaz and his family” and expressing “total solidarity and support” for the player.

The FCF has formally requested that the Colombian attorney general’s office expedite an investigation to identify and prosecute those responsible. The federation’s statement stressed that “football must be a space for unity, respect and hope, never a setting for hatred, intimidation or violence.” Argentine veteran Ángel Di María, a club teammate of Campaz at Rosario Central, publicly offered his support, telling the Colombian that he “gave everything for your country.” Colombia, unbeaten in normal time throughout the tournament, now face a period of introspection after a third consecutive major-tournament exit on penalties, while the authorities confront the challenge of protecting players from the toxic fallout of sporting disappointment.