Football in Uruguay was devastated by suicide once more. Tuesday marked the passing of former player Waldemar Victorino, who was 71 years old and had a number of career accomplishments, including winning the Libertadores Cup with Nacional of Montevideo, After attempting suicide with a gun on Monday, Victorino, who scored 58 goals for Nacional in 113 games, was declared “brain dead” and admitted to the hospital.
He had begun playing football professionally in 1969 with Club Atlético Cerro. He played for both Progreso and River Plate in Uruguay, but it was while wearing the Nacional jersey that he scored two of the most significant goals in the history of the Montevideo team: the winning goal against Inter of Porto Alegre in the 1980 Libertadores Cup final, and the winning goal against Nottingham Forest of England on February 11, 1981 in Tokyo to help the South American team win the Intercontinental Cup, for which he was also given the Best Player trophy.
Along with 33 caps, Victorino scored 15 goals for La Celeste, including one in the historic World Champions Gold Cup triumph over Brazil 2-1 in Montevideo on January 10, 1981. At that time, the team consisted of the only six teams to have won a World Cup, Before retiring in 1989, Victorino played for the following teams outside of Uruguay: Sports Boys and Deportivo Lima (Peru); Newell’s Old Boys and Colón (Argentina); Liga de Portoviejo and América de Quito (Ecuador); and Deportivo Cali (Colombia).
It was rumored that following his heyday, he was unemployed and struggling financially. He now adds his name to the list of football players from Uruguay who have killed themselves recently.
Maximiliano Castro, 46, was discovered dead in August 2021 after playing professionally until 2008. Death was determined to be the result of suicide. Then, he became the fourth player from Uruguay to die in the same manner in that year and the third in less than two weeks. The 38-year-old Williams Martínez, a defender for Villa Teresa in the Second Division, committed suicide the previous month after being unable to play after contracting Covid-19 in June. Martínez had previously played for Reims in France and West Bromwich Albion in England.
Emiliano Cabrera, 27, committed suicide less than a week after Martínez passed away. He was a professional football player in the minor levels of Uruguay. Additionally, in February of that same year, Santiago “Morro” García, a player for Godoy Cruz in Mendoza, Argentina’s First Division team, committed suicide as talks were ongoing to extend his contract. In 2014, Martínez and García were colleagues at River Plate in Uruguay.
The majority of suicide attempts are made by women, but 80.92% of suicides in Uruguay are committed by men, according to health authorities.