Soccer

Uruguayan footballer Juan Izquierdo dies five days after collapsing during match

27-year-old defender fell to the ground unconscious without coming into contact with another player

Juan Manuel Izquierdo is treated in an ambulance on the pitch during Nacional's Copa Libertadores round of 16 second-leg match against Sao Paulo at Estádio do Morumbi in Sao Paulo on August 22nd. Photograph: Nelson Almeida/AFP via Getty Images
Wed Aug 28 2024 - 12:12

Uruguayan footballer Juan Izquierdo has died aged 27, five days after collapsing during a match in Brazil.

Izquierdo fell to the ground unconscious in the 84th minute without coming into contact with another player. He was taken off the pitch in an ambulance before being treated at the intensive care unit of Albert Einstein Hospital.

The hospital said in a statement Izquierdo had died as a result of brain death following a cardiopulmonary arrest associated with cardiac arrhythmia.

“It is with the deepest sorrow and shock in our hearts that the Club Nacional announces the death of our beloved player Juan Izquierdo,” Uruguay’s Nacional wrote on X.

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“We express our most sincere condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and loved ones. All of Nacional is in mourning for his irreparable loss.”

The Uruguayan Football Association said the news was deeply painful, while the national governing bodies of Argentina, Peru, Paraguay and Colombia extended their condolences to Izquierdo's family and friends.

“South American football is in mourning,” said Alejandro Dominguez, the president of South American soccer’s governing body Conmebol.

Brazilian Football Federation president Ednaldo Rodrigues said a minute’s silence would be observed in every match organised by the federation on Wednesday.

Sao Paulo said they were deeply saddened by the news, calling it a “sad day for football”.

Izquierdo was in his second spell with Nacional having helped them to a first league title in more than a century in 2023.

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024