Professional soccer as a competitive sport has had its unfair share of tragedies over the years. Aside from the tragedies on the pitch, the spectators have not been spared either.

Africa’s darkest day in football, perhaps still the plane crash of April 27, 1993, when 18 members of the Zambian national team and 12 technicians and crew members were killed when their plane sank in the sea off the coast of Gabon.

The tragedy spans continents, and that fact was confirmed during a League game between the Kaizer Chiefs and the Orlando Pirate. A stampede at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg resulted in the deaths of 43 people, the worst disaster in South African sports history.

Africa witnessed yet another sporting tragedy when a local league game between Lupopo and TP Mazembe on April 30, 2001, killed 14 people during a stampede after crowd problems at a major league game in the city of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Nigerian sports family witnessed one of the most horrific soccer tragedies on December 23, 2008, when nine amateur soccer players and two female coaches were burned to death in a car accident on their way from Jos, Plateau State.

Tears of pain had barely dried when 15 members of an amateur team, FC Jimeta from Adamawa State, Nigeria, died in another car accident on January 26, 2009.

Twelve of the dead were players, while the remaining three were coaches.

Severe heat and overcrowding resulted in the deaths of 4 soccer fans in a Ghana League match between Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oaks in Kumasi on Sunday February 8, 2009.

On February 21, 2009, 13 Nigerian Premier League Yenegoa Ocean Boys FC soccer fans were killed by suspected cultists while on their way to a Premier League match between their team and Bayelsa United in the stadium of Ughelli Township in Delta State, Nigeria.

Tragedy struck at the Stade Felix Houphout-Boigny stadium in Abidjan, when the Ivory Coast hosted Malawi, as 22 soccer fans were crushed to death when a fence collapsed as they tried to enter the already crowded stadium, during a Cup Qualifier. of the World 2010.

Footballers are also not spared from these tragedies, which often occur on or off the field of play.

Below is a list of African footballers who have died on the playing field.

• Samuel Okwaraji (Nigeria) – died of a heart attack on August 12, 1989
• Amir Angwe (Nigeria) – died of a heart attack on October 29, 1995
• George Iginewari (Nigeria) – died of a gunshot wound in 1995
• Tunde Charity (Nigeria) – died of a head injury in 1997
• Emmanuel Nwanegbo (Nigeria) – died of heart failure on August 30, 1997
• Shamo Quaye (Ghana) – died while training with the team on November 30, 1997
• John Ikoroma (Nigeria) – died of a heart attack in February 2000
• Charles Esheko (Nigeria) – died of cardiac arrest on July 14, 2001
• Marc-Vivien Fo (Cameroon) – died of a heart attack on June 26, 2003
• Sam Okoye (Nigeria) – died after a brief illness in August 2005
• Chaswe Nsofwa (Zambia) – died of heart failure on August 29, 2007
• Guy Tchingoma (Democratic Republic of the Congo) – died of a heart-related illness on February 9, 2009
• George Katete (Democratic Republic of the Congo) – died of a heart attack on March 5, 2009
• Orobosa Adun (Nigeria) – collapsed and died on May 26, 2009
• Endurance Idahor (Nigeria) – died of an attack on March 13, 2010