Uruguayan soccer player Juan Izquierdo of Club Nacional died in Brazil on Tuesday, five days after he died of a heart attack during a match against Sao Paolo, his team said late Tuesday. The 27-year-old collapsed in the 84th minute of a match for a place in the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious club tournament in Latin America. He was taken by ambulance to Albert Einstein Hospital, where doctors said he suffered “cardiac arrest of undetermined onset due to an arrhythmia.”

Izquierdo, who was sedated and on a ventilator, later suffered “aggravation of brain damage and an increase in intracranial pressure,” the hospital said. “It is with deepest pain and shock in our hearts that Club Nacional de Football announces the death of our beloved player Juan Izquierdo,” Nacional wrote on the social network X in a message accompanied by a black-and-white photo of the athlete. Izquierdo’s wife Selena gave birth to his second child a week ago.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino:

It is with deep sadness that I have learned of the tragic death of Uruguayan football player Juan Izquierdo. On behalf of FIFA and the entire football community, I would like to express my sincere condolences to his family and friends, as well as to the Uruguayan fans. pic.twitter.com/BIiz74qcYV

— FIFA (@fifamedia) 28 August 2024

On Monday it was revealed that the player had been diagnosed with “a small cardiac arrhythmia” during routine examinations of youth teams a decade ago, said the director of the National Sports Secretariat, Sebastian Bauza.

Club president Alejandro Balbi said that during tests at the club, which he joined in January this year, Izquierdo had “never shown any heart problems”. Born in Montevideo in 1991, Izquierdo began his career in 2017, playing for several Uruguayan first division clubs. He also played for Atletico San Luis in Mexico.