What happened to the ex-Portsmouth and Southampton star jailed for 11 years | OneFootball

A fair few players and managers have crossed the Portsmouth-Southampton divide, but none have had the post-career that Jhon Viafara has had.

Jhon Viáfara wore both the blue of Portsmouth and the red and white of Southampton, but he's now wearing the orange of the American prison system.

Although it's the most bitter rivalry that can be found on the south coast of England, plenty of players have made the leap from Portsmouth to Southampton or vice-versa. Some extremely famous names, including Alan Ball, Harry Redknapp and Peter Crouch have spent time at both clubs, as players of managers.

But one name from two decades ago went on to have a post-playing career that has gone terribly, horribly wrong, and he is now in prison in the United States of America after having been found guilty of some heinous crimes. It's all a very long way removed from Fratton Park or St Mary's Stadium, and the fieriness of the south coast derby.

Jhon Viáfara was already a continental champion by the time he arrived at Fratton Park

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Jhon Viáfara first came to Portsmouth's attention as a result of the huge success in the South American club game. Viáfara started his career in his home country of Colombia with two spells at Deportivo Pasto and one with América de Cali, before joining Once Caldos in 2002.

In 2004, Once Caldos became the champions of South America through winning the Copa Libertadores, having won their first Categoría Primera A title since 1950 a year earlier. Their run to the final saw them get past some of the most famous names in South American football en route, beating the Brazilian giants Santos and São Paulo in the quarter and semi-finals before winning against Boca Juniors on penalties in the final after drawing the two-legged final 1-1, with Viáfara's scoring their goal.

Viáfara made his international debut for Colombia in 2003, and this increase in his profile brought him to the attention of Portsmouth, who paid a reported £1.6 million to take him to Fratton Park in June 2005. But the move to Portsmouth didn't work out. Dropped after manager Alain Perrin was sacked and replaced with Harry Redknapp, he ended up on loan for the second half of the 2005-26 season in Spain with Real Sociedad.

The following summer, Portsmouth cut their losses and sold him to their bitter rivals Southampton for a fee reported as £750,000. Viáfara would be more of a success at St Mary's than he had been at Fratton Park. Over two seasons with the Saints, he scored seven goals and created five assists in 83 appearances in all competitions, notably scoring twice in their Championship play-off semi-final against Derby County in 2007, a match which they eventually lost on penalty kicks.

Viáfara's post-playing career was - thankfully - unlike that of most former players

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By the summer of 2008, Viáfara was returning to South America. The player was suffering from homesickness, and he returned to Colombia and Once Caldos. They would be the first of eight Colombian clubs that he would represent before confirming his retirement from the game in 2015.

But Viáfara's post-playing career would turn out to be - thankfully - unlike that of most other former players. In March 2019, he was arrested in Cali on charges of drug trafficking and cocaine exportation to the United States.He was extradited to the USA the following January, denying the charges made against him.

It's fair to say that the trial didn't go very well for him. It was established that the Drug Enforcement Administration had been identified in 2017 on the basis of information received from Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama. With a considerable degree of recklessness, he had allowed himself to become known as "Futbolista," "Goleador," and "Makelele," all references to his former playing career.

Viáfara was found to have been "involved in the logistical preparations of dispatching large cocaine shipments by aircraft or boat from Colombia to Mexico via Central America for subsequent distribution within the United States." Indicted by a grand jury in June 2018, he was found guilty in March 2021 and sentenced to 135 months - 11 and a quarter years - in prison, where he remains to this day.

It turned out that Viáfara's 2008 homesickness would come at an extremely heavy price for the player. Returning to his home country would give him a playing career that would last for a further seven years, but it also presented temptations that he was evidently unable to resist. He may have worn the blue of Portsmouth and the red and white of Southampton while playing, but he ended up wearing the orange of the US prison system instead.