‘South American Soccer Is in Mourning’: Uruguayan Player Juan Izquierdo Dies at 27 After Collapse During Match

Tributes have poured in after the death of Uruguayan soccer player Juan Izquierdo on Tuesday night. The 27-year-old, a defender for his hometown’s Club Nacional de Football, died in hospital after he had collapsed last Thursday on the pitch during a match in Brazil. 

“All of Nacional is mourning his irreparable loss,” the Montevideo-based club posted on X. “Juan, you will be with us forever.”

CONMEBOL, the continental governing body of the sport in South America, shared its condolences, too, while the group’s president Alejandro Domínguez added in a post on X: “South American soccer is in mourning.”

Uruguay’s all-time leading goal scorer, Luis Suárez, who had shown his support for his countryman on Saturday after scoring for MLS team Inter Miami, posted on his Instagram story after Izquierdo’s death: “Pain, sadness, it is hard to explain. May you rest in peace and much strength to your family and friends.”

Izquierdo collapsed during the 84th minute of a match in the Copa Libertadores tournament against São Paulo at Morumbi Stadium in Brazil. The defender was substituted into the match at half-time, and he had not come into contact with another player when he fell to the ground unconscious. He was rushed to Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital.

Izquierdo was reported to be in a stable condition and sedated in the ICU, Nacional said last Friday, one day after his collapse. On Sunday, Nacional posted a statement by the hospital saying that he remained on a ventilator and experienced “an increase in intracranial pressure.” By Monday, doctors described him as being in “critical neurological condition.” He died on Tuesday night after suffering “cardiorespiratory arrest associated with his cardiac arrhythmia,” the hospital said in a statement published by Nacional. 

Uruguay suspended all domestic soccer activities over the past weekend, citing Izquierdo’s “delicate health situation.” In Brazil, during their Brazilian league match on Sunday, São Paulo players wore shirts printed with the words “Fuerza Izquierdo” (stay strong, Izquierdo) in support of the hospitalized Uruguayan.

“Our condolences to the family, friends, colleagues, Nacional fans and all the Uruguayan people at this time of grief,” the Brazilian club posted on X after Izquierdo’s death. “A sad day for soccer.”

Uruguayan newspaper El País reported that Izquierdo was surrounded by his family—including his parents, sister, wife, and young daughter—at the time of his death and that his body would be transported back to Uruguay with an aircraft provided by the Uruguayan Air Force. He is also survived by a son, whom his wife had just given birth to 10 days earlier, according to El País.

Izquierdo’s death is part of a wider phenomenon of athletes suffering from sudden cardiac arrests and deaths. Famously, during the European Championship in 2021, Danish soccer player Christian Eriksen collapsed during play. His survival was credited to the quick response of medics who were able to apply CPR and a defibrillator. Many, however, aren’t so fortunate. Last November, Ghanaian soccer player Raphael Dwamena suffered a cardiac arrest on the field and died on the way to the hospital. In June, British goalkeeper Matija Sarkic died after suffering sudden heart failure in his apartment. 

According to a 2016 study, sudden cardiac death, which affects 1 in 40,000 to 80,000 athletes every year, is the most common medical type of death among athletes—most notably in soccer, football, basketball, and baseball. Incidents of sudden cardiac arrest are often related to cardiovascular disease or anomalies, either congenital or acquired, the study found.

Izquierdo had previously suffered a tibia fracture in 2022 that kept him off the pitch for six months. The experience, he told El País, taught him to appreciate the moments of life that would otherwise “seem normal,” he said. “I learned a lot to value when I am healthy.”