Uruguayan football player Juan Izquierdo passed away at a hospital in Brazil five days after collapsing during a match.

He was 27.

According to reports, Izquierdo suffered an irregular heartbeat during a Copa Libertadores game last week.

Hospital Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo said he died at 9:38 p.m. local time following “cardiorespiratory arrest associated with his cardiac arrhythmia.”

From the Associated Press:

Izquierdo was taken to the hospital after he collapsed late in a Copa Libertadores soccer match between Nacional and Sao Paulo at the Brazilian city’s Morumbi Stadium last Thursday.

The Uruguayan club posted a statement on social media saying Izquierdo’s death is felt “in deep pain and impact in our hearts” and “all Nacional is in grief for his irreplaceable loss.”

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South American soccer’s governing body also posted a tribute. CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez said he’s “deeply sorry about the early departure of Juan Izquierdo.

“South American soccer is in mourning,” he said. Other federations, including Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, also expressed their condolences.

In a statement Monday, doctors at the hospital said Izquierdo was put into neurological critical care because of increased intracranial pressure. He had been on a ventilator since Sunday.

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The Telegraph reports:

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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