One month after Damar Hamlin’s shocking collapse during a prime-time NFL game, a Belgian goalkeeper has died after collapsing on the field following a penalty kick save.
Arne Espeel played for Winkel Sport B in the second provincial division of West Brabant. Fifteen minutes into the second half of his team’s Saturday match against Westrozebeke, Espeel had to defend the team’s 2-1 lead after Westrozebeke was awarded a penalty kick, according to ESPN.
The 25-year-old goalkeeper saved the shot but then collapsed.
“The ball was still in play,” team assistant Stefaan Dewerchin said, per Goal.com. “Our goalkeeper got up as fast as possible to receive the ball, but then he fell. It was really terrible to watch.”
Emergency services personnel tried to revive Espeel using a defibrillator, but he was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
“Winkel Sport is in very deep mourning by the sudden death of Arne Espeel,” the club said in a statement, per Reuters. “We wish family and friends of Arne our heartfelt condolences in this heavy loss. Football is an afterthought.”
An autopsy was scheduled for Monday, Yahoo! Sports reported.
Have athletes collapsed on the field before?
While Espeel’s cause of death has not yet been released, defibrillators are commonly used to revive someone that has suddenly gone into cardiac arrest, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Espeel is not the first soccer player to need a defibrillator after collapsing on the field. In July 2021, Danish national team midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed and went into cardiac arrest during the opening match of the UEFA European Championship, according to Sports Illustrated.
“He was gone,” Danish team doctor Morten Boesen said, per the The Athletic. “And we did cardiac resuscitation. It was a cardiac arrest. How close were we? I don’t know. We got him back after one defibrillator. That is quite fast.”
Medical professionals performed emergency CPR on the field for 13 minutes and were able to revive Eriksen, who was seen sitting up on the stretcher receiving oxygen before being taken off the field.
Eriksen was fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. He returned to soccer in February 2022 and made Denmark’s World Cup roster later that year.
In January, football fans watched a similar situation play out when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during the team’s “Monday Night Football” game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
He was taken to a hospital in Cincinnati before being transferred to Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute. He was discharged less than two weeks after the incident.
While it’s still too soon to know if Hamlin will play football again, NFLPA medical director Thom Mayer told the hosts of Sirius XM’s “Heart to Heart” that he believes the injury won’t be the end of the second-year player’s NFL career.
“I don’t want to get into HIPAA issues, but I guarantee you that Damar Hamlin will play professional football again,” he said, according to USA Today.