Uruguayan football player dies five days after collapsing on pitch

Uruguayan footballer Juan Izquierdo has died aged 27, five days after collapsing during a match in Brazil.

His club Nacional confirmed his death in a post on X, saying the entire club was “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.

Izquierdo was playing in a Copa Libertadores game at Sao Paulo when he collapsed on Thursday.

He died on Tuesday with the Hospital Albert Einstein saying he had suffered “cardiorespiratory arrest associated with his cardiac arrhythmia”.

Alejandro Dominguez, president of South American football’s governing body Conmebol, said the sport in 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.

Izquierdo was in his second spell with Nacional having helped them to a first league title in more than a century in 2023.