Four footballers killed by heart attacks over Christmas

Last week was particularly tragic for world football. Four footballers died of heart attacks on the pitch, while disappointment at the sudden retirement of Sergio Agüero due to heart problems continued.

The first victim was the young Croatian player, Marín Cacic, 23, who died in the hospital where he was in an induced coma three days after fainting on the field while playing the Christmas Tournament in his native municipality, Gospic.

According to local media Sportske Novosti, Cacic felt unwell in the middle of the game, and as he left, he collapsed. An ambulance immediately transported him to the Gospic hospital where they resuscitated him. He was then transferred to the Rijeka hospital, the third largest city in Croatia, where he died. The cause of death was a heart attack.

“Marín had been healthy until now, and examined regularly, before he came to play in Italy and Slovakia,” said his father.

A day later, 29-year-old Omani soccer player Mukhaled Al-Raqadi died of a heart attack. He collapsed in the pre-match warm-up between the Muscat and Al-Suwaiq clubs. Both teams had been busy preparing for the sixth round of the Omani national championship.

Al-Raqadi had been warming up with his teammate, and then suddenly fell down on the pitch. According to the Omani press, the temperature was above 28 degrees Celsius, and many initially thought he had fainted due to the heat. But the player had been used to playing in high temperatures.

He was transferred to a hospital, but efforts to revive him failed. He passed away from a heart attack. The match was suspended after he was taken to the hospital.

The Egyptian third division club goalkeeper, Ahmed Amin, also passed away after suddenly fainting during training for his team.

According to the digital edition in English of Middle East.in-24, and Ahmed Abdel Aziz, the technical director of the team, Amin had just finished his training session when he collapsed in the locker room. The doctor tried unsuccessfully to revive him and an ambulance was called. At the nearest hospital, doctors again tried to revive him but he died of heart failure only a few hours after the death of Al-Raqadi.

Last Saturday, Algerian footballer Sofiane Loukar also passed away during a match. The 30-year-old defender Loukar had collided with his goalkeeper but was able to resume play.  Nine minutes later, Loukar however collapsed according to the Algerian media outlet Liberté.

The defender showed signs of shortness of breath and had trouble speaking. Attempts to resuscitate him were in vain and he died from heart failure on the way from the stadium to the hospital. His coach expressed incomprehension at his sudden demise: “His medical history was very good.”