Some footballers have gone to be household names due to the huge and indisputable talent they possessed. Those made an indelible impression on football fans all over the world with their skills. However, their football careers were cut short by death.
In case you don’t know, the football world is still being plagued by the horrors of death every now and then as players are still dying on the pitch. This happens occasionally despite the timely medical attention of clubs, most especially in the developed countries.
The major aim of this post is to reveal some of the players that have died on the pitch while on duty for their clubs and countries. You will be surprised at some of them as you may know them but never knew that this is how they ended.
1 Cheick Tiote
Cheick Tiote was from Ivory Coast and was a huge talent both for the clubs that he played for and also his country. The few years that he spent in England before moving to China in order to continue his career were wonderful as he really proved to be one of the best defensive midfielders in the country.
His move to China underlined the fact that he was one of the most sought-after players in world football back then. The club had to break the bank just to ensure that he played for them. However, Cheick Tiote would never last as death snatched him away at the age of 30.
The most surprising thing about his own case was that he died while training on the pitch. Initially, it looked like he would survive, but as time went on, he was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead by the medical team.
2 Bruno Boban
Bruno Boban had it all to become one of the brightest stars for his country – Croatia. For a player that has been chased around by some of the best and most popular clubs in Europe, such should tell you a lot about his potentials. He was a winger that played for Marsonija FC in Croatia and was aged 25 when death came calling.
The death of Bruno Boban came as a surprise to many around the world during a game against Slavonija which happened to be the club that he formerly played for. Just 15 minutes into the game, the ball hit his chest. Initially, everyone thought it was something that would be resolved immediately and the game would continue just like every other case. However, the end report proved to be different as Bruno was pronounced dead by the medical team. This was after several attempts to get him resuscitated had failed. He was a player that most people in Croatia will never forget in a hurry.
3 Stefan Petrovski
Stefan Petrovski was one of the few players who represented the future of world football. The young goalkeeper from Australia was very talented and needed to grow in order to become one of the best around. He was only 18 when he died in the year 2016.
The death of this talented goalkeeper is unfortunate as it wasn’t a tackle or the ball hitting any part of his body. He was standing close to a goalpost while training with his other teammates when the post was stunned by lightning. This happened while on duty for his Melaka United, a club in Malaysia.
All efforts to revive the young goalkeeper proved abortive as he remained in a coma for days before being pronounced dead. The other player who was also affected by the lightning regained consciousness, but Stefan’s case was an unfortunate one.
4 Waheeb Jabara
Waheeb Jabara was actually one of the star players of his generation. He was from Israel and really showed lots of promises while playing for both country and club Hapoel Taibe. However, he was 23 years old when he died on the pitch in 1997. It was during a match against one of the local clubs ‘Bnei Yehuda’ when he collapsed and died. Despite all the medical attention given to him by the medical team and how he was taken to a nearby hospital with an ambulance, he never recovered. As matter of fact, before they could get to the hospital, he was already dead.
5 Cristiano Júnior
- It is always something of joy when strikers score goals in football. However, this wasn’t the case of Cristiano Júnior who died as a result of a collision he had with a goalkeeper during a league match in the 78th minute. It was his second hit during the game, and everyone thought it wasn’t as serious, but he staggered away and collapsed. The medical team couldn’t revive him, and he was later pronounced dead in the hospital that he was taken to. He was only 24 years old when this unfortunate incident cut his bright career short.
6 Endurance Idahor
Endurance Idahor was a player who had a lot to contribute to the beautiful game. However, it wasn’t meant to be as he died in 2010 while playing for his club Al Merreikh at the age of 25. He collapsed during a match against another club (Alamal Atbara) and died later on while being taken to the hospital inside an ambulance. An autopsy was carried out to find out the cause of his death. Eventually, it was revealed that he died of a heart attack which was brought about by circulatory failure.
7 Choirul Huda
Sometimes people talk about the high wages of footballers all over the world and forget that the game itself is dirty. An example of this was how Choirul Huda, an Indonesian goalkeeper, died because of a collision with another player (a teammate). The collision was so serious that it caused injuries in his head and lower jaw. He became unconscious; after which he was rushed to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead some few hours later. Huda’s case happened in 2017, and he was 38.
