*Undated
Football seasons globally are up and running meaning leagues are becoming more demanding and challenging.
This in turn has led to somewhat an increase in coaches plus players alike demanding for a less taxing schedule due to the strainous physical demands.
Congested schedule?
For a player of Aguero’s calibre to bow out in such a manner was as regrettable as it was saddening.
In November last year, Charlie Wyke, 28, a striker who plays for tier three English club Wigan, suffered a cardiac arrest in the middle of training. The club’s manager, Leam Richardson, saved the player’s life by performing CPR.
What is happening here? Why are so many elite (and the word elite must really be stressed) footballers suffering from heart-related issues? After all, football players have never been fitter; they never had greater access to sports scientists and medical experts.
In short, Professor Sanjay Sharma, a renowned UK-based sports cardiologist, said: “Everyone is jumping to the conclusion that it is Covid-related or, even worse, that vaccine-related myocarditis may be responsible for this spate of cardiac issues that we are seeing in football players,” he said, adding, “I can tell you now that Eriksen's arrest had nothing to do with Covid or the vaccine, nor was Aguero's cardiac scare.”
Heart-related scares were part of the football scene long before the pandemic brought the world to a screeching halt. On June 26th, 2003, during a match against Colombia, a Cameroonian midfielder by the name of Marc-Vivien Foé collapsed on the field.
Cases might seem to increase as there is more public awareness and more people performing sport at a higher level. Furthermore, based on scientific data and registries we know much more about sudden cardiac death in sports than 10-12 years ago.
Today, it seems, the world is paying greater attention to the welfare of footballers; we no longer just view these elite athletes as performers or celebrities.
Also, statistically speaking, with more than 113,000 professional soccer players registered worldwide, we should expect tragedies from time to time. There are just so many players playing the game.
Sudden Cardiac Death Cause:
Dr Christian Schmied, a world-renowned physician and head of outpatient cardiology at The University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland cautioned that “we have to differentiate regarding the underlying causes of SCD (sudden cardiac death): In younger athletes, the vast majority of deaths is due to an underlying, hereditary disease.”
Marc-Vivien Foe succumbed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which happens to be a hereditary condition known to increase the risk of sudden death during physical exercise.
Quite often, Dr Schmied added, “these diseases are just there and it is our challenge to detect them by adequate screening.”
However, he added, “stress, tension/pressure and competition increase the risk for arrhythmia and SCD.”
It is important to remember that although football players have never been fitter, they have never been more consumed by professional responsibilities.
What To Be Done:
The amount of games a professional football player must play in any given season is far greater today than it was at the turn of the century.
Footballers train harder than ever before, meaning they push their bodies, and their hearts, to the limit on a regular basis.
In England, home to the Premier League, the most competitive football league in the world, players and managers have recently called for a less congested schedule.
Perhaps, for the welfare of the footballers and their families, their calls should be answered. They are, after all, human beings. And they must be treated as such.