In 2008, Luis Flores Abarca, was the figure of the national championship and led Ñublense to two historical milestones: leader of the regular phase of the First Division and qualification for the South American Cup.. The ascending career took an abrupt turn the following year: a heart attack left him off the court in the best moment of his career.
Today, he works in the Ñublense seedbed and his company. From Chillán, he tells his day to day. “I do not know if there is a player who after four years inactive has returned, “he reflects with AS. He did it.
-Where do you live today?
– I’m between Chillán and Santiago because of the training issue. I now work with the minor series of Ñublense, the categories sub 13 and sub 14. And at the same time I have a cleaning and cleaning company in Santiago with my brother, so I have to be there moving because the youth soccer championship stopped everything last year. And in the company we have unemployment insurance, so I have to come to Santiago to work.
-When was your cleaning company formed?
-It was the product of looking for new income due to the little work that we people who are linked to football have, especially the technicians. I have seen how several colleagues have had to reinvent themselves to alleviate this global crisis due to the pandemic.
-Do you project yourself as the technical director of the first team?
– Yes of course, in fact I have been in these categories for three years, I am lucky to be champion with the sub 14 last year when we had a normal championship. We won the trophy for the southern zone and we had to play a final homer with two teams from Santiago and one team from the north.
-Can you tell me a little about the heart attack you suffered in 2009 …
– Playing for Ñublense in 2009, in a match against Palestino where I made my debut and did all the lower divisions. I had severe chest pain which ended up being a myocardial infarction that left me four years unable to play at the level I expected. I don’t know if there will be a player who has returned after four years of inactivity, I was lucky to close the cycle as a footballer, because I retired in 2011 and returned in 2015.
– Who proposes you to return to the courts?
– The president of the club (Ñublense) finds out that I had medical check-ups that came back positive and tells me that they need me within the team to contribute my experience to young people and transmit everything I had experienced. I think that although I was inactive I was important in football and I was able to retire in the First Division.
