A colleague just forwarded this an incredibly sad and moving video about Miklós Fehér, the Hungarian football player, in the striker position, who died at age 24 from sudden cardiac arrest during a match between Vitória de Guimarães and S.L. Benfica.

I did not know about him until this moment and my heart is heavy.

From Wikipedia:
On January 25, 2004, Benfica travelled to Guimarães to play Vitória S.C.. The game was being broadcast live on television, and Benfica were leading 1-0. Fehér, who had just come on as a substitute and assisted another player brought from the bench, Fernando Aguiar, for the match’s only goal, received a yellow card in injury time and suddenly bent forward, seemingly in pain. He then fell backwards to the ground.

Teammates rushed immediately to aid Fehér before medical personnel arrived on the pitch. CPR was performed as players looked on in visible distress. An ambulance arrived on the pitch, and Fehér was rushed to the hospital. His condition was covered by the Portuguese media throughout the day. However, before midnight, Fehér’s death was confirmed. The Public Prosecutor (the Portuguese agency responsible for the release of autopsy details) announced that Fehér died of a heart attack. (Elsewhere I read that The Public Prosecutor has said that Miklós Fehér died from cardiac arrhythmia, brought on by hypertrophic cardiomiopathy, and therefore died from “natural causes.”) He was only 24 years old.

And still elsewhere I read, “The director of the hospital, Fausto Fernandes, officially announced that Féher had died: ‘Today at approximately 21.45, the footballer Miklós Fehér, 24, entered our emergency unit with cardio-respiratory failure. We immediately performed all emergency procedures (…) These continued until around approximately 23.10 but without success.’”

Wikipedia writes, “In his memory, Benfica retired the number 29 shirt, which he wore during his time at the club. This number will never be worn again by any club player. He was remembered by many, and his death caused a profound shock in Portuguese sports. Among others, Reinaldo Teles (director of football of FC Porto) and José Mourinho (Porto’s manager at the time) paid their respects at the Estádio da Luz where the player’s body remained before his burial in native Hungary.”

Photo credit: theage.com.au

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