By Jennifer Amarachi
Juan Izquierdo, a Uruguayan soccer player who fainted on the field during a game in Brazil last week, has died on Tuesday, his team confirmed.
Izquierdo, 27, was playing for Uruguayan club Nacional in the Copa Libertadores, a premier South American event, when he collapsed due to cardiac arrhythmia, or an abnormal heartbeat, on August 22, according to his squad.
They competed against the Brazilian team São Paulo. Players from both sides were stunned and upset at the Morumbi stadium as Izquierdo was loaded into an ambulance and sent to the hospital.
According to Nacional, physicians in São Paulo hospital admitted Izquierdo to intensive care and placed him on a ventilator.
The experience had an effect on his brain as well. Izquierdo began his professional career in 2018. This was his second stint at Nacional, Uruguay’s best soccer team. He was married and had two children, according to the Montevideo-based team.
