Tragic Passing of Uruguayan Footballer Juan Izquierdo Following Mid-Game Cardiac Arrest- 2024 Updated
Juan Izquierdo, a 27-year-old defender for Nacional from Uruguay, unfortunately died after passing out during a Copa Libertadores game in Brazil.
In the 84th minute of a pivotal quarterfinal game versus Sao Paulo, the incident took place. Izquierdo was sent to the Albert Einstein Hospital right after, where medical professionals determined that he had experienced an arrhythmia-caused cardiac arrest.
When Juan Izquierdo of the Nacional club was transported to the Albert Einstein Hospital via ambulance, doctors diagnosed him with “cardiac arrest of undetermined onset, secondary to an arrhythmia.”
The Nacional club’s Uruguayan football player Juan Izquierdo passed away in Brazil on Tuesday, five days after suffering a heart attack during a game against Sao Paolo, as his team revealed late on Tuesday. In the 84th minute of a match to advance to the Copa Libertadores, the most important club competition in Latin America, the 27-year-old fainted. He was brought to the Albert Einstein Hospital via ambulance, where medical professionals reported that he had experienced “cardiac arrest of undetermined onset, secondary to an arrhythmia.”
Izquierdo later experienced “a progression of brain involvement and an increase in intracranial pressure,” according to the hospital, while sedated and on a ventilator. “On the social network X, the Club Nacional de Football announces the death of our beloved player Juan Izquierdo,” the team posted along with a black and white photo of the athlete. “With the deepest pain and shock in our hearts,” the message read. A week ago, Izquierdo’s second kid was born to his wife Selena.
Sebastian Bauza, head of the National Sports Secretariat, said on Monday that the player had been diagnosed with “a small arrhythmia” ten years prior during standard check-ups of young teams.
Izquierdo “had never shown any cardiac episode” during exams at the club, which he joined in January of this year, according to club president Alejandro Balbi. Izquierdo started his professional career in 2017 and played for multiple first-division Uruguayan clubs. He was born in Montevideo in 1991. In Mexico, he also played for Atletico San Luis.
