Football star Christian Benitez dies in Qatar after game
\nEcuador striker dies a day after playing first game for Qatari club El Jaish<\/p>\n
AP
\nPublished: 09:12 July 30, 2013<\/p>\n
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\nEcuadorian footballer Christian Benitez died a day after playing in a match for Qatari club El Jaish, the team said. The club provided no further details about the death of the 27-year-old Benitez, who moved from Mexican club America to play in Qatar in 2013.
\nQuito, Pichincha: Ecuador striker Christian Benitez has died suddenly in Qatar at the age of 27, his agent Jose Chamorro said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Ecuadorian Gama TV, Chamorro claimed Benitez, known as \u201cChucho\u201d, had suffered a heart attack. He had complained of abdominal pains and was transferred to a hospital, where he died on Monday, Chamorro said.<\/p>\n
Benitez, who was top scorer in the Mexican league last season with Club America, had just signed for Qatari outfit Al Jaish and had travelled to the club to undergo a medical before completing his move.<\/p>\n
Al Jaish said in a statement that Benitez played on Sunday with the team in a match against Qatar Sports Club in the Shaikh Jasem Cup \u201cwithout complaining of any health problems.\u201d
\n\u201cHis sudden departure is a big shock for each member of the technical and administrative staff. He was a player that over the short period he was here was regarded for his high moral character,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The club did not give a cause for the death.<\/p>\n
Ecuador\u2019s interior minister Jose Serrano took to Twitter to pay tribute to the player, who also turned out for English side Birmingham City for one season.<\/p>\n
\u201cDear Chucho thank you for your goals and your happiness,\u201d said the minister. \u201cA hug to your family and especially to your father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benitez was considered a key part of Colombian coach Reinaldo Rueda\u2019s Ecuador team that is hoping to qualify for next year\u2019s World Cup in Brazil, sitting third in the South American qualifying group.<\/p>\n
His former team-mate at Birmingham City, former Republic of Ireland midfielder Lee Carsley, told BBC Sport: \u201cI remember he had outstanding ability, was very quick and was a bit of a free spirit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a big personality and he burst on to the scene when he came on at Old Trafford and caused lots of problems. His ability and goalscoring ability was there to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunderland\u2019s Craig Gardner, also a former team-mate, paid tribute to Benitez on Twitter. \u201cCan\u2019t believe Christian Benitez aka chucho has died,\u201d he wrote. \u201cHad the pleasure to play with him he was a top bloke. My thoughts go out to his family,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Source:Agencies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Football star Christian Benitez dies in Qatar after game
\nEcuador striker dies a day after playing first game for Qatari club El Jaish<\/p>\n
AP
\nPublished: 09:12 July 30, 2013<\/p>\n
Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on printMore Sharing Services4.
\nImage Credit: AP
\nEcuadorian footballer Christian Benitez died a day after playing in a match for Qatari club El Jaish, the team said. The club provided no further details about the death of the 27-year-old Benitez, who moved from Mexican club America to play in Qatar in 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main_slider"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}