Spanish footballer Jesus de Miguel dies aged 30 after collision during match

TENERIFE, Spain: Spanish footballer Jesus de Miguel died on Tuesday aged 30. He had been injured in a collision during a Segunda Division match on Monday. His club, CD Tenerife, confirmed his death.

According to the club, de Miguel died at 8am local time (0800 GMT) on Tuesday. In its statement, the club expressed deep sorrow.

The incident happened in the closing minutes of Tenerife’s home match against FC Andorra. De Miguel was running after a long ball when the visiting side’s goalkeeper, Jesus Owono, came out to clear it. Owono’s knee struck de Miguel in the chest and he fell.

Team-mates signalled for medical help. De Miguel suffered a heart attack and was reportedly revived by doctors in the ambulance on the way to hospital. The match was stopped a few minutes before the end, and Owono was shown a red card.

The club had said he was admitted to the intensive care unit of Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital, and that his condition was serious but stable. A few hours later, his neurological condition worsened.

Born in Madrid, de Miguel played for Leganes’s reserve side and contributed to Internacional de Madrid’s promotion in 2018. With Castellon this season, in which the team reached the Segunda Division, he scored 16 goals and set up six.

The Spanish football federation postponed Tuesday’s Copa del Rey first-round and Copa de la Reina third-round matches following his death. LaLiga, the Spanish Footballers’ Association, Barcelona and Real Madrid offered condolences. Real Madrid players observed a minute’s silence before training.

Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo said a life so young, with many dreams and much still ahead, had ended.

Such fatal collisions are rare in professional football, but not unprecedented. In September 2025, Raul Ramirez, a 19-year-old Spanish goalkeeper, died after colliding with an opposing player in a fifth-division match. Indonesian goalkeeper Choirul Huda died in 2017 and Algeria’s Sofiane Loukar in 2021 in similar incidents.