Gregory Mertens Passes Away After Collapse On The Pitch During A Match

Gregory Mertens Passes Away After Collapse On The Pitch During A Match

Gregory Mertens was a Belgian professional who last played at Lokeren as central defender. He also played for his national side in under-21 category. Born in Anderlecht he played for a few clubs at the youth level namely Anderlecht, Dilbeek Sport, Gent, Cercle Brugge. He graduated to first team football at Cercle Brugge where he went on to make 87 appearances.

He completed his transfer to Lokeren last year. The defender has played 101 games in the Belgian Pro League for two clubs, Cercle Brugge and Lokeren. He had started 11 games this season for Lokeren. Mertens scored his final goal in August of 2013 which was also the year in which he netted a hat-trick in a play-off game against White Star Bruxelles.

Mertens suffered a cardiac arrest on April 27th in the first half during a reserve game fixture against K.R.C. Genk after which He was immediately taken to the hospital where he was put under artificially induced coma. He died on April 30th at 4:30 PM. Tributes have been paid by clubs and players from all around the globe.

A club statement said: "The medical staff had done everything to save Gregory, but they finally had to acknowledge their impotence. Gregory passed away at around 16:30."

The club statement continued: "Gregory was only one-and-a-half years at the club, but in that short time his quiet modesty made him an indispensable person. Now we will have to learn to live with the loss."

The club also said that he passed all the fitness tests set by UEFA, and therefore the cause of the heart attack is yet to be determined. He was also believed to be one of the fittest players in his club.