Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe has died after collapsing earlier today during his country's Confederations Cup semi-final against Colombia.
Foe, who spent last season on loan at English premier league side Manchester City from French club Olympique Lyon, was carried off on a stretcher after collapsing 15 minutes from the end of the match, won 1-0 by Cameroon.
FIFA's Swiss medical officer for Lyon, Mr Alfred Mueller, told a news conference: "I have to give you very sad information. The player Marc-Vivien Foe has died.
"After he went off the pitch ... we took him to first aid, and the heart stopped in the first aid. The French doctors here did reanimation for 45 minutes and, during this 45 minutes, we had unfortunately absolutely no reaction.
"This is a very sad day for football, for FIFA and for the player's family. This is all we can say at the moment."
FIFA, who said there would be an autopsy to determine the circumstances of the death, later issued a statement saying Foe had "collapsed in around the 72nd minute without any particular event having happened in the course of the match."
"The player was transferred straight away to the medical unit of the Stage Gerland of Lyon. The doctors carried out cardiac reanimation for 45 minutes, without success."
It quoted FIFA's Swiss doctor Alfred Mueller as saying: "It is too soon to determine the exact causes of his death."
Reuters