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FEATURED: Four (4) Football Players that Died on the Pitch

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In the world of sports, football cannot be regarded as a dangerous sport, but over time, we have witnessed football players that died on the pitch of play. Talking about dangerous sports, sports like motorcycle racing, surfing, rafting, boxing, wrestling and the likes are all sports one can easily be classified under dangerous sports, but football is not one of such considering the way and rules guarding it.

Even though there is a possibility of players suffering a life-threatening injury during the game, dying in the game is one thing we can’t really say is that possible. In this article, we try to look at four players that died in the field of play and possibly what really happened that led to their death.

The first on our list of Football Players that died on the Pitch is Cheick Ismaël Tioté:

FEATURED: Four (4) Football Players that Died on the Pitch

Cheick Ismaël Tioté is an Ivorian defensive midfielder who have played so many games for his country. He also played for Newcastle United in England. He was signed by the club for a fee of £3.5 million. He made a total of 156 appearances for the English Premier League club games in his six-and-a-half seasons with the club and scored one goal for Newcastle United. In February 2017, he joined China League One side Beijing Enterprises.

Tioté played 52 games for his country Ivory Coast, he played from 2009 to 2015, scoring once. He represented the country at two FIFA World Cups and four Africa Cup of Nations, winning the 2015 edition of the African Cup of Nations.

FEATURED: Four (4) Football Players that Died on the Pitch

The Ivorian defensive midfielder; collapsed and lost consciousness during a training session with his club side Beijing Enterprises and was pronounced dead. It was gathered that the cause of his death is a heart attack. He died on the 5th of June, 2017.

Another player on the list of Football players that died on the pitch is DAVID FARAMOLA ONIYA.

FEATURED: Four (4) Football Players that Died on the Pitch

David Faramola Oniya is a Nigerian soccer player who played in the Malaysia Premier League. He was with T-Team in the Malaysian Premier League as a defender. Oniya started his career with Uzbekistan club side Dinamo Samarqand in mid-2007. He played for Dinamo Samarqand for four seasons and made him the captain of the team before moving to Bunyodkor in December 2011.

Oniya left Bunyodkor in February 2012 before the start of the season, and signed for Sogdiana Jizzakh for the first half of the year and then joined Buxoro in the summer of 2012. On the 13th of June 2015, Oniya died after collapsing on the pitch in Malaysia during a friendly match between his club T-Team and Kelantan.

For David Faramola Oniya, the cause of his death is not very clear, but it was said that cardiac arrest was what he suffered from.

Also in the list of Football players that died on the pitch of players is ANTONIO JOSE PUERTA.

FEATURED: Four (4) Football Players that Died on the Pitch

Antonio Jose Puerta was a Spanish soccer player who played solely for Sevilla. He was a left-footed midfielder who could also operate as an attacking left-back. On the 25th of August 2007, Puerta collapsed and lost consciousness in the penalty area due to a cardiac arrest during Sevilla’s first La Liga match of the 2007–08 campaign. The game was with Getafe in their home ground Sanchez Pizjuan.

He was seen crouching and then subsequently collapsing upon moving back to his team’s goal after only 35 minutes into the game. His teammates Ivica Dragutinović and Andrés Palop immediately ran to his side as he lost consciousness; moments later, club medical staff and other players followed suit.

Puerta recovered and substituted, but as he was walking to the dressing room, he collapsed again and was resuscitated by the doctors and taken, by ambulance, to the intensive care unit of Virgen del Rocío Hospital.

He received cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was fine for some time. Puerta died on the 28th of August 2007, at 14:30. Doctor Francisco Murillo reported that he had suffered multiple organ failure and irreversible brain damage as a result of multiple prolonged cardiac arrests due to an incurable, hereditary heart disease known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia.

MIKLOS MIKI FEHER

Miklos Miki Feher was a Hungarian professional football player who played as a striker. He played most of the games in the Portuguese League. He spent nine years playing football in Portugal, representing four clubs in the Primeira Liga.

He made a total of 80 games and scored 27 goals for the clubs played for. He also represented his country Hungary at an international level. On the 25th of January 2004, Fehér was in Guimarães with Benfica to play against Vitória de Guimarães.

The game was being broadcast live on television, and Benfica was leading 1–0. Fehér had just come on as a substitute and assisted another player just off the bench, Fernando Aguiar, for the match’s only goal. He bent down after receiving a yellow card in injury time and suddenly fell back to the ground.

FEATURED: Four (4) Football Players that Died on the Pitch

Members of both teams rushed immediately to help him before medical personnel arrived on the pitch. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed, an ambulance arrived on the pitch, and he was rushed to the hospital.

His condition was covered by the Portuguese media throughout the day and, before midnight, he died.
His death was confirmed, and a cardiac arrhythmia was carried on him by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

In his memory, Benfica retired the number 29 shirt, which he wore during his time at the club; he was remembered by many, and his death caused a profound shock in Portuguese sports.