Tragedy in Guatemala: a soccer player died after fainting in a training session for his team

He started 2022 with unfortunate news in the world of football. The footballer Marcos Menaldodel Deportivo Marquense of the second division of Guatemalan soccer died this Monday after fainting in a training session for his team, according to several sources in Guatemala.

Menaldo, who turned 25 last December, died after being transferred to a hospital after fainting in his team’s first practice of the year, according to local media and people close to the family. It should be noted that the player worked as a central defender and was part of the title recently won by Marquense as champion of the Apertura 2021 tournament of the first division of Guatemalan football.

The now-deceased player celebrated the title obtained with a shirt of a murdered relative in 2005, according to a publication in the daily Prensa Libre. The 25-year-old footballer joined Marquense in 2018 after preparing for three years in Barcelona, ​​although he had already played in his childhood with the lower divisions of the team currently led by Guatemalan coach Joaquín Álvarez.

The Menaldo club is from the department of San Marcos, located about 250 kilometers west of Guatemala City, currently seeking to return to the Major League, the highest category of football in the Central American country that yesterday crowned Malacateco as its new champion.

The circumstances in which Menaldo died have not been disclosed by his club, which has not confirmed his death either. However, local media indicated that the soccer player fainted during training at the Marquesa de la Ensenada stadium, in San Marcos.

Previous cases in Guatemala

In 2004, Guatemalan goalkeeper Dany Ortiz died after colliding with another soccer player during a match at Municipal, the club he was defending, and Comunicaciones, in the Guatemalan soccer classic.

Another Municipal footballer, Johnny Aldana, also died during 2001 in a training session for the Guatemala City team, when a movable goal fell on him.