5 footballers who lost their lives while playing the game they loved

#2 Patrick Ekeng (Age 26): Dinamo Bucharest v FC Viitorul Constanta, May 6, 2016

Patrick Ekeng was a promising young player who had gained honours at international level for Cameroon

Just seven minutes after coming onto the pitch as a sub for Dinamo Bucharest, Patrick Ekeng collapsed in the middle of the pitch and took his last breath.

With no prior history of heart problems of defects of any kind, it came as a great shock to the football family. Even though it would be a couple of hours before his death was confirmed in the hospital, he never regained consciousness and medics were unable to revive him on the pitch, players from both teams crying and holding their heads in disbelief.

The youngster had recently broken into the Cameroon international squad and was tipped for big things, dream and aspirations that were cruelly denied him.

He had, in fact, told his best friend earlier in the day that he didn’t want to play in the evening game because of a feeling of extreme fatigue. Though it wouldn’t have helped, an investigation into his death concluded that the ambulance which took him to the hospital had faulty equipment and out of date medicine on board.