5 footballers who lost their lives while playing the game they loved

#4 Antonio Puerta (Age 22): Sevilla v Getafe, August 28, 2007

Antonio Puerta loved Sevilla and they loved him back

A true one-club man, Antonio Puerta had spent 14 years of his 22 at the club of his life, Sevilla. Born in Seville, he was scouted as a seven-year-old and joined an academy that could count Jesus Navas and Jose Antonio Reyes amongst its pupils.

Though he made a first-team debut in 2004, it wasn’t until 2005/06 that he was promoted to be part of the first-team squad. How unfortunate that within two years, he would cease to be with us.

On August 25th, 2007, Puerta collapsed in the penalty area in the 35th minute of Sevilla’s game against Getafe at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan and lost consciousness. Though he managed to eventually walk off of the pitch aided by club staff, he collapsed again in the dressing room.

He managed to hold onto life for a further three days but multiple cardiac arrests in the intervening period took its toll and he never regained consciousness, dying in hospital on August 28, 2007, from arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia.

His wife was seven months pregnant with the couple’s first child when he passed.