Tragic Loss: Uruguayan Footballer Collapses Mid-Game in Brazil, Dies from Cardiac Arrest

Uruguayan footballer Juan Izquierdo, who played for Nacional club, tragically passed away in Brazil on Tuesday. The devastating news comes just five days after he collapsed on the field from a heart attack during a match against Sao Paulo. The 27-year-old collapsed in the 84th minute of a crucial match for a spot in the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores, the premier club tournament in Latin America. Izquierdo was rushed to the Albert Einstein Hospital by ambulance, where doctors determined that he had experienced cardiac arrest due to an unspecified arrhythmia. His untimely death has left the football community in shock and mourning.

Izquierdo, who was sedated and on a ventilator, later suffered "a progression of brain involvement and an increase in intracranial pressure," the hospital said. "With the deepest pain and shock in our hearts, the Club Nacional de Football announces the death of our beloved player Juan Izquierdo," Nacional wrote on the social network X, in a message accompanied by a black and white photograph of the athlete. Izquierdo's wife Selena gave birth to his second child a week ago.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino:

I am deeply saddened to learn of the tragic passing of Uruguayan footballer Juan Izquierdo. On behalf of FIFA and the entire footballing community, I would like to express my sincere condolences to his family and friends, to the Uruguayan… pic.twitter.com/BIiz74qcYV

On Monday it emerged that the player had been diagnosed with "a small arrhythmia" a decade ago during routine check-ups of youth teams, according to the director of the National Sports Secretariat, Sebastian Bauza.

Club president Alejandro Balbi said Izquierdo "had never shown any cardiac episode" during examinations at the club, which he joined in January this year. Izquierdo was born in Montevideo in 1991 and began his career in 2017, playing in several first-division Uruguayan clubs. He also played for Atletico San Luis in Mexico.