The Albanian football federation said that Raphael Dwamena, a former Ghana striker, died on Saturday after having a heart attack during a league game between KF Egnatia and FK Partizani.
He was taken to the hospital by paramedics on the pitch, but he died there at the age of 28.
Dwamena played eight times for Ghana and was once seen as one of the country’s up-and-coming stars, but he had a number of heart problems during his career.
Because of these health problems, the attacker couldn’t join Brighton in 2017, so he went to Spain.
After four years, the Ghanaian player passed out during a cup game in Austria between his team, Blau-Weiss Linz, and Hartberg. He later got better and kept playing.
Before he passed out, Dwamena had surgery on his heart in 2020 and had an artificial pacemaker put in. This was done so that he could continue playing football.
After this surgery, the 28-year-old played in teams in Denmark, Austria, and Switzerland. In January 2023, he joined KF Egnatia in Albania.
With nine goals, Dwamena was the top scorer in the Albanian league this season.
In honour of Dwamena, the Swiss club FC Zurich posted a black-and-white picture of him on their website and said, “Rest in peace Raphael Dwamena!” You’ll always be one of us!”
The Albanian federation agreed on Saturday to cancel all league games in honour of Dwamena.
He said of Dwamena, “He lived for football.” Endi Tufa is an Albanian football expert.