Paulo Wanchope resigned as the coach of Costa Rica’s national team a day after he was involved in a fistfight at a match in Panama City.
Wanchope was an observer at Tuesday night’s game between the under-23 teams of Costa Rica and Panama. A scuffle broke out, and video of the incident shows Wanchope angrily opening a gate to the field, shoving a youth standing behind it and apparently receiving a shove from a man standing beside the gate. Wanchope then turns and punches the man, who kicks and hits him before the police intervene.
Wanchope, who took over Costa Rica’s team last year after a career as one of Central America’s most famous forwards, had approached the field several times to shout at officials that the match was fixed, said Ramon Cardoze, vice president of the Panama Soccer Federation.