Uruguayan footballer Juan Izquierdo dies aged 27 after collapsing on pitch
Baku, August 28, AZERTAC
A Uruguayan footballer has died at the age of 27, five days after collapsing during a match in Brazil, according to Sky News.
Juan Izquierdo was playing in a Copa Libertadores game in Sao Paulo when he went into cardiac arrest on Thursday.
His club Nacional announced his death in a post on X, saying they were "in grief for his irreplaceable loss".
"It is with deepest pain and shock in our hearts that Club Nacional de Football announces the passing of our beloved player Juan Izquierdo," the club posted.
The defender died on Tuesday at Sao Paulo's Hospital Albert Einstein, which said he had suffered "cardiorespiratory arrest associated with his cardiac arrhythmia".
Doctors said on Monday that Izquierdo was under neurological critical care and still on a ventilator, after an earlier statement that he had shown "a progression of his brain damage and an increase of intracranial pressure".
Izquierdo was in his second spell with Nacional having helped them to a first league title in more than a century in 2023.
Alejandro Dominguez, president of South American football's governing body CONMEBOL, said the football community on the continent was in mourning.
Describing it as a "sad day for football", opponents Sao Paulo said on X they were "deeply saddened" by his death.
Uruguayan media said he is survived by his wife and two-year-old daughter.
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