List of footballers who died while playing

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The following is a list of football players who have died whilst playing a game , or died from injuries sustained while playing. Following an increase in deaths, both during matches and training, FIFA announced on 31 August 2007 that they were considering introducing cardiac testing ^[1]

Date	Name	Age	Team	Notes
13 January 1889	William Cropper	26	Staveley	Suffered a ruptured bowel in a match for against Grimsby Town; died the next day.
11 January 1892	James "Daddy" Dunlop	21	St Mirren	In a friendly game against Abercorn, he fell on a piece of glass which led to tetanus setting in; he died ten days later at the age of 21.[2]
25 May 1896	James Logan	25	Loughborough F.C.	Pneumonia relapse caught while playing.
29 November 1896	Joe Powell	25	Woolwich Arsenal	Blood poisoning and tetanus after breaking his arm against Kettering Town in 1896.
1900s	James Collins		Sheppey United	Tetanus caused by on-field injury.[3]
27 August 1902	Di Jones	35?	Manchester City	A gash to the knee turned septic, resulting in his death.[4]
8 April 1907	Tommy Blackstock	25	Manchester United	Collapsed after heading a ball in a game against St. Helens and died.[5]
1908	Frank Levick	26	Sheffield United	Death caused by blocking a shot. The ball struck him below the waist, forcing his testicles to become lodged in his abdomen. This caused internal bleeding of the bowel and a subsequent cardiac arrest.[6]
29 December 1909	James Main	23	Hibernian	During a Christmas Day match in 1909 when Hibs played Partick Thistle at Firhill on a frostbound pitch, full back Jimmy Main received fatal stomach injuries following a collision with a Thistle player. He died 4 days later.[7]
19 February 1916	Bob Benson	33	Arsenal	Died of a burst blood vessel following a wartime game against Reading.[8][9]
7 January 1921	Horace Fairhurst	27	Blackpool	Suffered a head injury in a league game at Barnsley in December 1920; died as a result of his injury early in the new year.
22 May 1921	Nikola Gazdić		Hajduk Split	Young forward died of late stage tuberculosis after an epic performance against Građanski Zagreb, Hajduk's greatest rival at the time.[10]
11 November 1923	Tom Butler		Port Vale	Died from tetanus eight days after fracturing(breaking) his arm in a match.[11]
4 April 1927	Albert Van Coile	27	Cercle Brugge	Suffered a perforated bowel after a collision with an opponent. Died one day later.
30 April 1927	Sam Wynne	30	Bury	Collapsed and died on the field of pneumonia during a match against Sheffield United, although Bury claim it was a cerebral hemorrhage.[12]
5 September 1931	John Thomson	22	Celtic	Injured during an Old Firm when he dived for the ball and suffered a fractured skull in an accidental collision with Rangers' Sam English, and died that same evening at the age of 22.
17 June 1933	Jon Kristbjornsson	22	Valur	A goalkeeper who collided with a striker from KR Reykjavik and suffered a head injury in the last game of the Icelandic League on 13. June 1933. Was taken to hospital, where he died from his injuries on 17. June 1933.
1 December 1934	Sim Raleigh	25	Gillingham	Died after a clash of heads with Brighton & Hove Albion's Paul Mooney in a game, who subsequently retired.
5 February 1936	Jimmy Thorpe	22	Sunderland	A diabetic, the goalkeeper collapsed into a coma from which he never recovered, attributed to the rough treatment he received on the pitch in a game against Chelsea. His death lead to the rule that players were no longer able to kick the ball out of the goalkeeper's arms.[13]
14 July 1963	Constantin Tabarcea	26	Petrolul Ploieşti	Collapsed during a match. Death attributed to unusual activity of the thymus gland.[14]
25 February 1967	Tony Allden		Highgate United	Struck by lightning during an FA Amateur Cup quarterfinal against Enfield.[15]
16 December 1973	Pavão	26	F.C. Porto	Collapsed and died of a heart attack during a league game.[16]
18 May 1977	Tony Aveyard		Scarborough	Injuries received during match.[17]
30 October 1977	Renato Curi	24	Perugia	Suffered a heart attack while playing in a Serie A match against Juventus. Perugia's ground is named after him.
23 September 1984	Erik Jongbloed		DWS Amsterdam	Struck by lightning during an exhibition game.[18]
23 August 1987	Paulo Navalho	20	Atlético Clube de Portugal	Suffered an acute myocardial infarction during a friendly match between Atletico and the U.A.E.'s Al-Jazira Club.[19]
12 August 1989	Samuel Okwaraji	24	Nigeria	Collapsed and died while playing against Angola in a World Cup Qualifier. An autopsy showed that the 24-year-old had an enlarged heart and high blood pressure.
8 September 1990	David Longhurst	25	York City	Suffered a heart attack on the pitch while playing against Lincoln City. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
2 February 1993	Michael Klein	33	Bayer Uerdingen	Suffered a heart attack during a training session.
29 October 1995	Amir Angwe	29	Julius Berger F.C.	Collapsed and died on the pitch of a heart attack.[20]
4 April 1997	Waheeb Jabarra		Hapoel Taibe	Israeli midfielder, suffered a heart attack on the pitch while playing against Bnei Yehuda.
1999	Ferenc Biro		Nirajul Miercurea-Nir.	Died after a crossbar fell on his head during a warmup. [21]
24 July 1999	Stefan Vrăbioru	23	Astra Ploieşti	Undetected heart defect that led to him collapsing.[22]
2000	Daniel Orbeanu	18	Caraimanul Buşteni	Died after an infection from a simple sprain, misdiagnosed by four different hospitals.[23]
February 2000	John Ikoroma	17	Al-Wahda	Collapsed on the pitch and later died in hospital.[24]
2 April 2000	Eri Irianto		Persebaya Surabaya	Died in hospital due to heart failure after a game between Persebaya and PSIM Yogyakarta.[25]
21 May 2000	Hocine Gacemi	24	JS Kabylie	Died from a fractured skull after clash of heads.[26]
5 October 2000	Catalin Hîldan	24	Dinamo Bucharest	Died while playing for Dinamo; the North Stand of Dinamo's stadium is named in his honour.
29 August 2001	Serhiy Perkhun	23	CSKA Moscow	Suffered injury in a collision with Budun Budunov who also sustained serious head trauma. He suffered a brain hemorrhage and died eight days later.
2002	Michael Michael			Collapsed on the field, and after belatedly being taken to hospital was pronounced dead on arrival.[27]
2002	Cristian Neamţu	21	Universitatea Craiova	Accidentally struck in the mandible by a teammate charging towards goal. Internal bleeding was discovered, before he died one week later.[28]
24 October 2002	Hernán Gaviria	32	Deportivo Cali	Struck by lightning during a training session, and was killed instantly.
27 October 2002	Giovanni Córdoba	24	Deportivo Cali	Struck by the same lightning that killed Hernán Gaviria, and died three days later from the injuries.
December 2002	Stefan Toleski		FK Napredok	Collapsed during a match and later died in hospital.[29]
26 June 2003	Marc-Vivien Foé	28	Cameroon	Collapsed while playing in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-final between his country and Colombia, and died shortly afterward in hospital. An autopsy later revealed the cause of death was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
25 January 2004	Miklós Fehér	24	Benfica	Died of a heart attack while playing against Vitoria.
29 February 2004	Danny Ortiz	27	CSD Municipal	During a match against CSD Comunicaciones, Ortiz collided with Mario Rafael Rodríguez, suffering from a torn pericardium and would die later in hospital.
27 October 2004	Serginho	30	São Caetano	Sudden cardiac death while playing against São Paulo.
5 December 2004	Cristiano Junior	24	Dempo Sports Club	Collided with Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Subrata Paul in the 78th minute of the Federation Cup finals while scoring his second goal. He staggered away, then collapsed. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was dead on arrival at Hosmat Hospital.
2005	Alin Paicu	32	Minerul Mătăsari	Collapsed after heading a ball. Died of a heart attack.[30]
12 April 2005	Paul Sykes	28	Folkestone Invicta	Collapsed on the pitch 30 minutes into the game against Margate F.C. in the Kent Senior Cup Semi-Final. An undiagnosed heart-defect was identified as the cause of his death.[31]
9 September 2006	Matt Gadsby	27	Hinckley United	Collapsed on the pitch during a Conference North game against Harrogate Town and died soon afterwards in Harrogate District Hospital. Medical tests revealed he died from a heart condition known as Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy. [32]
18 September 2006	Nilton Pereira Mendes	30	FC Shakhter Karagandy	Collapsed on the pitch during a training session with his club and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. The Brazilian was a former top scorer and best player for the Kazakhstan Premier League.[33]
30 August 2006	Mohamed Abdelwahab	23	Al-Ahly	Died from undetected heart defect during a training match. [34]
27 March 2007	Ivan Karačić	19	NK Široki Brijeg	Suffered a heart attack and died during a training match in Široki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina.[35]
28 August 2007	Antonio Puerta	22	Sevilla	Died on of multiple organ failure, stemming from prolonged cardiac arrest, three days after suffering from several cardiac arrests during a league game against Getafe, as a consequence of Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy.[36]
29 August 2007	Chaswe Nsofwa	28	Hapoel Beersheba	Died from sudden heart failure during a training match against Maccabi Beersheba.
29 December 2007	Phil O'Donnell	35	Motherwell	Collapsed during his team's 5-3 win against Dundee United with what was later confirmed as a seizure. He died on the way to hospital.[37]
9 February 2008	Guy Tchingoma	22	FC 105 Libreville	Died shortly after a league game against Union Sportive O'Mbila. During the match he collided with an opponent. He managed to finish the game, but collapsed after it and medics were unable to revive him.[38]
16 February 2008	Hervé King	27	Ringmer	Collapsed 17 minutes into a game against Three Bridges.[39]
3 April 2008	Hrvoje Ćustić	24	NK Zadar	Collided with a concrete wall during a game against Cibalia and died in hospital 5 days later of severe head injuries[40]
31 May 2008	Rustem Bulatov	34	FC Chelsea-Kazan	Felt ill during a game, died later that day in a hospital.[41]
26 May 2009	Orobosan Adun	28	Warri Wolves FC	Before an away match with Enugu Rangers, Goalkeeper Adun of Warri Wolves FC, was assaulted by thugs suspected to be fans of the opposition team. Slumped and died 3 days later from internal haemorrhage, during a training session.[42]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of sportspeople who have died during their playing career

[edit] External links

• Football deaths at Spartacus Educational