Rommel Fernández
Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez ( born January 15, 1966 in El Chorrillo, Panama City, † May 6, 1993 near Albacete) was a Panamanian football player.
In his native played " tank " as they called him lovingly, for Atlético Panamá Panamá and Alianza FC and Macabi. He ran in numerous plays on for his country and it was a trip to the national team after Spain, which earned him his first international attention. In Mundialito de la Emigración, a tournament played in the CD Tenerife against a selection Spanish- abstämmiger footballer, Fernández fell on such that the local club made him an offer. In 1986 he moved to Spain in the Segunda División for CD Tenerife. He later played for FC Valencia and Albacete Balompié in La Liga. He was the first soccer player from Panama, which got a contract with a professional club in Europe, quickly became a crowd favorite.
After three years in the Segunda División rose Fernández 1989 CD Tenerife in the Primera División. He made his league debut on September 3, 1989 against FC Sevilla. In the season 1989/1990 he met ten times in the opponent's goal and was awarded " Best player of South America" in the Spanish top flight.
He played one more season in Tenerife and after he had shot in five years, 48 goals for the club, he moved in 1991 to the three-time UEFA Cup winners FC Valencia. There he was, however, rather sporadically used and was able to achieve only two goals in his first year. For the season 1992/1993 he therefore moved to Albacete Balompié, where he took back to his form. He shot for his 50th Erstligator Albacete, interestingly, against CD Tenerife, for which he had scored his first years earlier.
The Estadio Revolución in Panama City was renamed in his honor at Estadio Rommel Fernandez, after a car accident near Albacete when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree, died on 6 May 1993. He was extremely popular with his fans and such an important part of the national team, that they decided to give the stadium its name. He is regarded as one of the most important people of the sport in Panama.
His last international match was a 1:5 defeat on August 23, 1992 in Costa Rica in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup in the USA.