Egypt: Footballer aged 26 dies while preparing for prayers
Club declares 3-day mourning for Ahmed Fathi’s death
Cairo: A young Egyptian footballer had died while performing ritual ablution to offer the obligatory noon prayers, local media reported.
Ahmed Fathi, who played with Egypt’s second-division club Pioneers, passed away after he had fallen in his house while preparing for the prayers on Thursday, media reports added.
Online newspaper Al Youm Al Saba quoted the 26-year-old player’s father as saying that his son just finished ablution and suddenly fell unconscious as he was standing on the prayer rug.
His Delta-based club confirmed the player’s death and announced three days of mourning for him. The cause of his death is not clear yet.
The Egyptian Football Association mourned Fathi’s death and offered condolences to his family.
Fathi was scheduled to participate in his club’s game on Thursday against the provincial club of Dekerns. His death prompted a competition committee to postpone the fixture to ٍSunday.
Relatives were quoted in the media as saying that the late player was bracing to transfer to Egypt’s premier league club Pyramids and also to get married.