Katsina United have confirmed the death of Chinedu Uzor, who slumped during a pre-season friendly match on Tuesday.
The club announced the player’s passing in a statement on Wednesday.
Katsina United noted that Uzor’s body was moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the state’s General Hospital due to his family “refusing to give up hope”, dismissing the reports of the player suddenly regaining consciousness at the morgue after he had earlier been pronounced dead by doctors.
Uzor, who recently signed for Katsina United, collapsed during the club’s match against Niger Tornadoes at the Gusau/Ahlan Pre-season Cup at the Muhammadu Dikko Stadium, Katsina.
A few hours after the incident, Nasir Gibe, the club’s media officer, said the player was taken to two hospitals where he was pronounced dead, adding that “we don’t know where or who saw his hands shaking, which made his relatives say he is still alive and that we should take him to the ICU.”
In the latest statement on the situation, Katsina United said that “moment of hope” for the family “must not be turned into a story that Chinedu survived”.
“They were a family desperately hoping that somehow, against all odds, their loved one was still with them,” the statement reads.
“He did not regain consciousness. He passed away. We know how difficult this is to accept. We know many people are still trying to process what happened. His teammates are grieving. His friends are grieving. The club is grieving. And somewhere, a family is facing a pain that words cannot begin to describe.”
Uzor was previously with Kano Pillars FC before joining Katsina United ahead of the forthcoming Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season.
Parents of the Katsina United player who collapsed and was pronounced dead, had demanded the transfer of his corpse to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for 24 hours for confirmation.
