Henry ‘the fly’ Caicedo, glory of Deportivo Cali passed away on the night of this Wednesday, January 18. As reported by his family to various journalists from the city of Cali, such as Jaime Dinas and Alfonso Morales, who have closely followed the state of health of the former soccer player, who was one of the best defenders in the region in the 1970s.
The historic Colombian player began his professional career in 1970, when recruiters noticed him while he was playing on one of the neighborhood courts of the Valle del Cauca capital. They took him to the ranks of Deportivo Cali, where the coach of the green team at that time, Roberto Resquin, took him to improve his condition and talent to make him a figure in the team’s defense. In the year of his debut, he won the title as Colombian soccer champion, however his greatest success would come later.
In 1974, ‘The Fly’ Caicedo was a fundamental part of that squad that Deportivo Cali fans still commemorate with fervor, thanks to the achievement of the fifth star for the Cali team, which would become one of the most coveted trophies that Deportivo Cali would achieve, because after that, a 20-year drought would accompany its history.
His success led him to wear the Colombian National Team shirt on several occasions and to have international participation with the team of his loves, however, his career was short given his fall into drugs and alcohol that led him to have health problems after his retirement.
The sugar idol enjoyed the presence and admiration of the world champion technical director, Carlos Bilardo, who considered him one of the best defenders in the region, fast and precise, for which his nickname would become relevant, ‘the fly’.
After entering Cuba in the 2000s to rehabilitate, health problems began to affect him, in the 2021 suffered a stroke that seriously affected his mobility and speech. In his maternal home he continued his recovery process, until last Monday he was admitted to the Clínica Nuestra de Cali where unfortunately his death was confirmed at the age of 71.