SAO PAULO – Uruguayan soccer player Juan Izquierdo died in a hospital in Brazil on Tuesday, five days after collapsing during a match in Sao Paulo.
He was 27.
The Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo said in a statement that the Nacional defender died at 9:38 p.m. local time as a result of “cardiovascular arrest associated with cardiac arrhythmia.”
Izquierdo was hospitalized after collapsing shortly before the end of a Copa Libertadores soccer match at Sao Paulo's Morumbi Stadium last Thursday.
The Uruguayan club released a statement on social media saying that Izquierdo's death “saddens them with deep pain and touches our hearts” and that “the whole of Nacional mourns his irreplaceable loss.”
The South American Football Confederation also published a tribute.
CONMEBOL President Alejandro Domínguez said he deeply regretted the “early departure of Juan Izquierdo”.
“South American football is in mourning,” he said. Other associations, including Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, also expressed their condolences.
In a statement Monday, hospital doctors said Izquierdo was admitted to the neurological intensive care unit due to increased intracranial pressure.
Photo taken during the second leg of the third round of the Copa Libertadores
Football match between Uruguay's Nacional and Bolivia's Always
Ready at the Gran Parque Central Stadium in Montevideo, on
March 14, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
He had been connected to a ventilator since Sunday.
Uruguayan media reported that Izquierdo's parents and Nacional executives were in hospital in Sao Paulo. Izquierdo was married and had two children – the youngest, a boy, was born in early August.
Due to concerns about Izquierdo's health, Uruguayan first and second division matches were postponed last weekend.
Sao Paulo players wore a shirt in support of the Uruguayan footballer ahead of their team's 2-1 win over Vitoria in the Brazilian league on Sunday.
The Brazilian club also released a message after Izquierdo’s death.
“We have had days full of prayer, solidarity and hope and today we are deeply saddened by the news of Juan Izquierdo's death,” said the Sao Paulo club statement. “Our condolences go out to the family, friends, teammates, Nacional fans and all the Uruguayan people in this moment of grief.”
Izquierdo's professional career began in 2018 at local club Cerro.
The following year he moved to Peñarol, but did not get much playing time.
Libertadores group stage second leg football match between
Paraguay's Libertad and Uruguay's Nacional in La Huerta
Stadium in Asuncion on May 30, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
“Peñarol deeply regrets the death of Juan Manuel Izquierdo. We express our deepest condolences and embrace his family, friends and Nacional in this moment of great pain,” Peñarol said on its social media channels.
After leaving Peñarol, Izquierdo moved to Montevideo Wanderers.
His athletic form and sharp tackling caught the attention of Mexican side San Luís in 2021, but he quickly returned to Montevideo Wanderers.
Izquierdo was signed by Nacional in 2022, played one game and was then transferred to local Liverpool club.
The defender was one of Liverpool's best players in the season that led the team to the 2023 Uruguayan championship title, the club's first in over a century.
Izquierdo returned to Nacional this year, vying for a place in the starting lineup with the experienced Sebastián Coates, who played for the Uruguayan national team.
He played 23 games this year and scored one goal.
