Uruguayan soccer star Juan Izquierdo has tragically died after collapsing suddenly on the field mid-game.
Izquierdo had been hospitalized after suffering a cardiac arrest during a match in Brazil last Thursday.
The young athlete was just 27 years old when he died.
Izquierdo was playing in a Copa Libertadores game in Sao Paulo when he went into cardiac arrest.
The game came to an immediate halt when Izquierdo collapsed suddenly.
Fans looked on in horror as the soccer star received emergency medical treatment on the field.
His club Nacional announced his death in a post on X.
The post said the club and fans are “in grief for his irreplaceable loss.”
“It is with deepest pain and shock in our hearts that Club Nacional de Football announces the passing of our beloved player Juan Izquierdo,” the club posted.
Con el más profundo dolor e impacto en nuestros corazones, el Club Nacional de Football comunica el fallecimiento de nuestro querido jugador Juan Izquierdo.
Expresamos nuestras más sinceras condolencias a su familia, amigos, colegas y allegados.
Todo Nacional está de luto por… pic.twitter.com/mYU28mqw6m
— Nacional (@Nacional) August 28, 2024
The defender died on Tuesday at Sao Paulo’s Hospital Albert Einstein.
Doctors confirmed that he died of a cardiac arrest.
On Monday, Doctors said that Izquierdo was under neurological critical care and still on a ventilator.
This came after an earlier statement that he had shown “a progression of his brain damage and an increase of intracranial pressure.”
Izquierdo was in his second spell with Nacional having helped the club to a first league title in more than a century in 2023.
The president of South American soccer’s governing body CONMEBOL, Alejandro Dominguez, said the sport’s community on the continent was in mourning.
in a post on X, opponents Sao Paulo said the club was “deeply saddened” by his death.
The post described Izquierdo’s death as a “sad day for football.”
According to Uruguayan media, Izquierdo is survived by his wife and two-year-old daughter.
Izquierdo’s death is the latest in a long line of such incidents in recent years.
Other high-profile soccer players have also recently collapsed suddenly after suffering from cardiac arrest.
Christian Eriksen was stretchered off the pitch after collapsing during Denmark’s opening Euro 2020 match.
The Euro 2020 tournament took place from June 11 to July 11 2021 after being delayed by the Covid pandemic.
He returned eight months later when he came on for Brentford in a Premier League match.
In the UK, Luton Town’s Tom Lockyer said he “literally died” for two minutes and 40 seconds after collapsing during a Premier League match in December 2023.
The 29-year-old has since had a defibrillator fitted in his chest.
He returned to Luton’s training ground “to start the next phase of his rehabilitation” this month.
READ MORE – All-Cause Deaths Are Surging Among Covid-Vaxxed, Study Warns