A player in the Gabonese first division, Herman Tsinga, has died after collapsing during a game in Libreville, local media reported on Monday. The former first division football player Herman Tsinga tragically passed away in Libreville on Saturday. The midfielder collapsed during a match between Akanda and FC Missile in the Gabonese league. About a quarter way into the match, the midfielder lost consciousness but paramedics could not resuscitate him.
Tsinga, a striker for Akanda FC, collapsed in the 23rd minute of the match with Missile FC on Saturday, The Union daily newspaper reported. The 30-year-old received a cardiac massage by a military doctor, but died on his way to hospital. An amateur video posted on Twitter showed the confused reaction after Tsinga collapsed on the edge of the centre circle.
According to The Union, neither of the two ambulances at the scene had the defibrillator or oxygen mask necessary “to save the life of the player”. The death was the seventh in 12 years in Gabonese football, The Union said. The match was part of the second round of the championship, which was able to resume in February after a gap of eight months when Gabon Oil Company agreed to sponsor the competition.
An official representative of the Union tweeted “Gabon National Oil-Foot mourning. Akanda FC player Herman Tsinga who died upon his transfer to Owendo CHU after collapsing on the pitch a few seconds after an aerial duel in the 23rd minute of the game against Missile FC in the stage of the INJS. RIP ”
In 2014, AC Bongoville’s Sylvain Azougoui died after being kicked in the head during a league match in Gabon. The goalkeeper died on the way to hospital after the incident during a match against Centre Mberi Sportif. The 30-year-old from Togo had just stopped a shot on goal, but the attacker lost his balance on the wet grass and stepped on Azougoui’s head.
“It is truly difficult to see how fate can be so cruel,” a statement on the club’s Facebook page said. “He had been decisive and exemplary on several occasions when AC Bongoville were in difficulty – and knowing that he is leaving us so young because of an innocuous blow is truly sad.”
The Gabonese League has to do something to improve its emergency services on the pitch so that players can be saved. The general health of the players should be monitored so that the best talents in the country and the continent can be preserved. This is part of the reason why talented stars like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang move out of the nation to play in other leagues in Europe.
Similar tragedies have occurred before in various leagues across the world. Last year alone, at least three footballers died while on duty for their teams. In Africa, the most memorable deaths include Ivorian Cheick Tioté who collapsed and lost consciousness during a training session in October 2017 and was pronounced dead later that day and Cameroonian Marc-Vivien Foé who collapsed while playing in the June 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-final between his country and Colombia, and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.