Teenage Soccer Player Dies from Cardiac Arrest During Match in Belgium

"The Association of French-speaking Football Clubs should question itself. Professionals are required to undergo medical tests to earn millions of euros, why not the young, the amateurs? [...] It may not have changed anything in Ibrahim’s case, but I found myself ashamed, unworthy, shaken not to know the player’s medical history. Did he have known respiratory problems, a history of heart disease? Was he asthmatic? I could not respond to the rescue, because I did not know," lamented Antony Tavares Carinha, Ibrahim’s coach.

The lack of medical examinations in amateur football is a sad reality, confirms David Delferière, the president of the ACFF. "The question comes up every time there is an accident. It has been extensively discussed with doctors. Performing 500,000 exams to detect only a very small percentage of problematic cases was not feasible. What happened to this young man is very sad. But it’s an accident," he explained.

The observation is the same in most federations that no longer require certificates from athletes. "Before, the athletes filled out a medical form completed, after a few tests, by their doctor. Today, the athletes themselves fill out this form by declaring themselves fit... On the side of the French-speaking Belgian Athletics League, we felt that the exams did not prevent much. You can be considered fit one day and have problems some time later," details Noël Levêque, president, technical director and coach of the Royal Cercle Athlétique du Brabant Wallon (RCABW).

"We never know what the doctor has really done in terms of tests, before affixing his stamp. Whether his examination is serious or sloppy. Fifteen to twenty years ago, there was a list of approved doctors. It disappeared, the other doctors felt there was unfair competition. Another problem: before, we had access to screenings but not anymore due to medical confidentiality," says Thierry Maréchal, president of the Wallonia-Brussels Cycling Federation, stressing that cardiac screening continues to be imposed on cyclists.