Phil O’Donnell

Phil O’Donnell is the second player to have died on the field in 2007. The following is a list of onfield deaths:

Phil O’Donnell (Scotland) 2007 — The 35-year-old Motherwell midfielder died after collapsing on the pitch.

Antonio Peurta (Spain) 2007 — The Sevilla and Spain midfielder died after collapsing on the field during a Spanish league.

Cristiano de Lima Junior (Brazil) 2004 — The 24-year-old Dempo striker clashed with Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Subrata Pal, collapsed on the ground and died before he could be transferred to the hospital in the Federation Cup final in Bangalore.

Serginho (Brazil) 2004 — The Sao Caetano defender died in Sao Paulo, after suffering an apparent cardio-respiratory arrest and collapsing on the pitch during the Brazilian championship match against Sao Paulo.

Miklos Feher (Hungary) 2004 — The Hungarian international died after collapsing following a heart attack in a Portuguese league game between his club Benfica and Vitoria Guimaraes.

Marc-Vivien Foe (Cameroon) 2003 — The Cameroon midfielder collapsed and died during a Confederations Cup semi-final against Colombia in France.

Marcio Dos Santos (Brazil), 2002 — The 28-year-old striker died of a heart attack just hours after scoring a goal for Peruvian side Deportivo Wanka.

Geovanny Cordoba and Hermann Gaviria (Colombia), 2002 — The duo died after being struck by lightning.

Stefan Vrabioru (Romania), 2000 — The 26-year-old Astra Ploiesti player died on the way to hospital following a fall just minutes after being brought on for his first division debut against Rapid Bucharest.

Sanjib Dutta (India), 1993 — The 27-year-old Railways midfielder died after an on-field collision in the Santosh Trophy match against Andhra Pradesh.

Dave Longhurst (Britain), 1990 — The 25-year-old York City striker collapsed and died in a league tie.

Samuel Okwaraji (Nigeria), 1989 — Collapsed 10 minutes from the end of a World Cup qualifier against Angola in Lagos and died from cardiac failure.

Oliver Petit (France), 1987 — The 20-year-old brother of French international midfielder Emmanuel Oliver died during a match playing for amateur club Arques.

Erik Jongbloed (Netherlands), 1984 — The DWS goalkeeper was killed by lightning during a match.

Fernando Pascoal das Neves (Portugal), 1973 — The Porto player collapsed and died during a league match.

Constantin Tabarcea (Romania), 1963 — The Petrolul Ploiesti player died after collapsing during a first division match.

John Thompson (Scotland), 1931 — The 23-year-old Celtic and Scotland goalkeeper dived at the feet of Rangers forward Sam English in Glasgow and suffered a fractured skull. He later died in hospital without regaining consciousness.

Note: One of the most infamous soccer deaths of recent years did not happen on the pitch, but as a direct result of what happened on it. Andres Escobar (Colombia, 1994) scored an own goal in Colombia’s 1-2 defeat to the US in the 1994 World Cup finals and was murdered soon after returning home to Colombia by a hitman.