Sports and Sevillian journalism is in mourning for the death of Francisco Javier Mérida Cidoncha. The journalist of Seville newspaper He died this Sunday in the capital of Seville after a long illness.
Mérida began in journalism in 1990, when he joined the sports section of The Andalusian Post Office. In this medium he announced the arrival of Davor Suker to Sevilla, showing his journalistic expertise. Later he went to Diario de Sevilla, where he created the sports newspaper in 1999, remaining in said media until 2016, when he had to leave the profession due to the severity of the disease he suffered from, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). . Furthermore, he collaborated with Sports World, Radio Marca and Cadiz Newspaperwhere he had an analysis column about the Carnivals.
Six years after his forced retirement from the media, Mérida was awarded the José Antonio Blázquez Special Award for his professional career. In these awards, which are awarded by Sevilla FC, he received recognition from all his professional colleagues present at the event and from the world of football, of which he was extremely knowledgeable. The award was collected by his son, Alejandro Mérida, who today continues his father’s journalistic work.
He also had a small role as a writer, presenting ‘Relatos en verdiblanco’ in 2007, a book he published on the occasion of the Centennial of Real Betis Balompié. A work carried out by twelve journalists, including Mérida.
He had an impressive eye for seeing football talent, which made him maintain great friendships with personalities from the two clubs in the city such as Monchi, Juande Ramos, Víctor Fernández and Fernando Vázquez. Another of his passions was basketball, being a big fan of Caja San Fernando in his early years, cooking and cycling. He was a great devotee of Esperanza Macarena.
Together with Juan Carlos Unzué, also suffering from ALS, Javier Mérida was one of the promoters of the solidarity campaign “Living is worth it.”
D.E.P
