22-Year-Old Spanish Soccer Player Dies After Collapsing On Field
Posted August 28, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
At 22 years old and in the prime of his life and career, Antonio Puerta had it all snatched away.
The Sevilla midfielder died Tuesday, three days after collapsing on the field during his team’s Spanish League match against Getafe.
Puerta had been in an intensive care since Saturday on assisted ventilation but his condition worsened Tuesday, according to hospital officials.
Tragedy struck for the young footballer when he lost consciousness and fell near his own goal Saturday in the 31st minute. Amazingly, he was able to walk off minutes later after being treated by team doctors.
But things quickly took another turn for the worse, and doctors said he had a heart attack in the dressing room and at least one more in the emergency room of the Seville hospital where he was taken.
Sevilla was scheduled to play at AEK Athens on Tuesday in the second leg of Champions League qualifying, but the match was postponed.
“UEFA, after a joint request by AEK and the Sevilla team, has decided to postpone the game because of the death of football player Antonio Puerta and the tragic events from the fires in Greece,” AEK said.
AEK had already asked for the match to be postponed due to fires across Greece that have killed 64 people in five days and as a result the game will be played Monday.
Puerta was born in Sevilla and played for Spain’s national team and also scored one of Sevilla’s penalties in a shootout win over Espanyol in May’s UEFA Cup final as well as an injury-time goal that led Sevilla over Schalke in the semifinals of the 2006 UEFA Cup.
Sadly this isn’t the first time a player has died after unexpectedly collapsing on the pitch. Benfica’s Miklos Feher did so in 2004 and Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe at the 2003 Confederations Cup in France. Similar situations have occurred in other sports as well, with NBA forward Reggie Lewis and NFL lineman Korey Stringer serving as two of the more famous examples.
Photo Credit: Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty Images
