LYON, France, 27 June 2003 — Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe died yesterday after collapsing during his country’s Confederations Cup semifinal against Colombia.
Foe, who spent last season on loan at English premier league 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.
Alfred Mueller, FIFA’s Swiss medical officer for Lyon, 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.”
FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who learned the news while at the Stade de France (for the second semifinal) at the same time as the France and Turkey teams and also the spectators, said in the statement: “FIFA and the whole family of football are shocked by this incredible tragedy.
“I would like to address in their name, to his family, to those close to him, to Cameroon football and to his club, our most sincere condolences and express all our support in this painful moment. Football has lost a remarkable player and man.”
Chuck Blazer, head of the organizing committee of the Confederations Cup, said he was shocked.
Foe, 28, played 65 games for Cameroon and formerly played for West Ham United and RC Lens.
The powerful midfielder missed the 1998 World Cup through injury, but played in all three of Cameroon’s games in last year’s tournament. He produced impressive form for Manchester City in the season just finished, but the club decided against paying Lyon seven million pounds ($11.65 million) to take him to England on a permanent basis. A minute’s silence was observed before the other semifinal in Paris. France’s goalkeeper Gregory Coupet, a Lyon teammate of Foe, appeared distraught at the news.
Ten-man Cameroon booked their place in the final on Thursday after grinding out Colombia. Cameroon, who will face either holders France or Turkey, were fired into a ninth-minute lead by striker Pius Ndiefi but had defender Bill Tchato red-carded an hour later.
Eric Djemba-Djemba sent a high ball from the right to the far post, Mohamadou Idrissou headed back past keeper Oscar Cordoba across the face of his goal and Ndiefi volleyed into an empty net.
