Allan ‘Skill’ Cole is dead

Legendary Jamaican footballer Alan 'Skill' Cole is dead.

Cole passed away at age 74 late yesterday.

Cole played at both professional and at international levels as a striker. He played in the NASL with the Atlanta Chiefs in the United States and in Brazil with Nautico. Locally, Cole played for several clubs including Santos where he won national titles in the 1970s.

He also represented Jamaica and appeared in three FIFA World Cup qualifying matches. Cole was one of four football stalwarts who were given special awards by the Jamaica Football Federation for their contribution to the local game at a function on January 8, 2024.

In paying tribute to Cole on X, opposition leader Mark Mark Golding said he was "deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Allan 'Skill' Cole, a Jamaican legend who many consider our greatest ever footballer, with silky, elegant passing skills and ball control that were second to none.

"Skill's unique and influential personality also had an impact on the development of reggae, through his close relationship with Bob Marley and other music legends of that era. I am grateful for having benefited from his generosity in sharing his deep, first-hand knowledge of the history of that seminal period of our cultural development."