This is a list of association footballers who died due to football-related incidents.
The primary causes of on-field deaths have evolved over time. Improvements in infection control and emergency surgery since the early days of organised soccer have mostly eliminated the fatal complications that were once common after routine sporting injuries. Squad rotation and substitutes have also reduced the need for seriously ill players to start, or remain in, games, and lifestyle factors are now tightly controlled.
However, deaths from heart failure have increased as the intense pace of the modern game has placed higher demands on players' aerobic conditioning. Following an increase in heart-related deaths, both during matches and training, in 2007 the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) considered mandatory cardiac testing, already in place for years in some countries, such as Italy. By 2009, FIFA pre-competition medical assessment included family history, heart rhythm, sounds, and electrocardiogram results. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) required extensive medical tests, including electrocardiogram and echocardiogram for players in the Europa League 2011–12. Constant monitoring has been advised.
The FIFA Sudden Death Report (FIFA-SDR) was carried out by Saarland University and published in 2020. The report recorded worldwide deaths attributed to sudden cardiac arrest or other unexplained sudden death while playing (or shortly after playing) football from 2014 to 2018. There were 617 cases during the five-year period. In the majority of cases where an autopsy was carried out, the cause of death was coronary heart disease.
Most non-cardiac deaths are the result of blunt trauma to the head or torso, resulting in life-threatening conditions such as intracerebral hemorrhage and peritonitis, caused by colliding with other players, goalposts or stadium architecture. Challenging another player by targeting their body, an important part of soccer for most of the 20th century, is penalised automatically under modern refereeing guidelines, as is "dangerous play" such as playing the ball with a foot above shoulder height.
As with other forms of outdoor recreation, fatal lightning strikes are a rare but persistent problem, especially at training grounds where there is no stadium structure to draw the lightning away.
List
The list includes players who died either during matches or training, or as the result of incidents during matches or training for various reasons, such as injuries, cardiac arrest, natural death, and sometimes for unknown reasons. Death may occur immediately or several days after the injury or fall, but is still directly attributable to football-related activities.
It does not include players who suffered cardiac "death" on the pitch but were successfully resuscitated and survived, such as Fabrice Muamba and Christian Eriksen.