SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Sao Caetano defender Serginho died Wednesday after collapsing during a Brazilian championship soccer match. (São Paulo x São Caetano) The 30-year-old player likely suffered cardiac arrest, doctor Marco Aurelio Cunha said. The official cause of death was not immediately released. Serginho collapsed away from the play 59 minutes into the match against Sao Paulo at Morumbi Stadium. Players from both teams quickly called for medical assistance when Serginho fell unconscious inside Sao Caetano's penalty box. Doctors rushed to the field and attempted to revive him CPR. Serginho was still unconscious when he was taken to Hospital Sao Luiz in Sao Paulo, doctors said. Players watched in apparent disbelief as Serginho was taken away from the field in an ambulance, some crying and others praying. The game was suspended shortly after the Serginho was stricken. "We did what we could do, but the situation was very serious from the moment he fell to the ground,'' doctor Jose Sanchez said. Serginho is survived by his wife, Eliane, and his 4-year-old son. Earlier this year, a third-division player collapsed and died during training in Budapest, Hungary, and Hungarian player Miklos Feher collapsed in Portugal during a match between his club Benfica and Vitoria Guimaraes. He died shortly after in hospital. In 2003, Cameroon star Marc-Vivien Foe collapsed during a semifinal match at the Confederations Cup and later died. He was found to have had a heart attack caused by an enlarged left ventricle. --- :smt009 This happened yesterday. I'm still shocked.
Condoleances to fans and family... perhaps in the near future it's possible to "install" remote body monitors in sportsmen to prevent this from happening
Sorry for his family but I've got a question Johnny. Are steroids a problem in soccar? Because when a young athlete dies of heart problem here it is usually assumed to be setroids or cocaine.
I don't think soccer players use that kind of stuff. The weird thing is, that is the 4th player,in the world, to die on the field in the last 16 months. And it was exactly like Feher, who played for Benfica. He was ok, walking, then he put his hands on his knees, then collapsed.
man, what a sad way to go. Like Johnny said, he is the 4th football player to die during a game in less than two years. :smt009 Yakumo
re I'm not much of a soccer fan, but it's always a shame when someone dies playing the game they love :smt009 .
I'm sorry to hear that...doubt it's doping..a study was done in the States and only 3.2% of on field/court deaths in the last 10 years were as a result to substances...almost none could be traced to steroids....It's just the new thing for everyone to assume and freak out about...
Well its abit weird that sudenly we have so many deaths like that... maybe something new is going around...
Wow, that's a really horrible thing to hear, I feel sorry for his friends, family, and also his fans. As kstyle said, it's a bit sad that drugs are so common in professional athletics now that deaths are automatically assumed to be doping related. I'm not saying it is or isn't the case, just that it is possible for a dedicated athlete to work themselves into cardiac arrest without the help of illegal substances. Either way, it's a sad event.
