Andrés Balanta, Colombian and Atlético Tucuman midfielder has tragically died on Tuesday, after suffering from discomfort during training. He was just 22, AFP reports.
According to the report, the death of Andrés Balanta was announced by Colombian and Argentine football association on Wednesday.
Andrés Balanta died on Tuesday after fainting in training. According to the Argentine press, his discomfort occurred shortly after the start of the session. After attempts to resuscitate him with the help of a defibrillator, he was transferred to hospital where doctors in turn tried to bring him back to life for 40 minutes before pronouncing him dead, AFP reports.
The Argentinian club, where Balanta had been on loan from Deportivo Cali since last summer, called a press conference to announce the tragic news. “The Atlético Tucumán club has an extremely painful duty to announce the death of our player, Andrés Balanta”, said Ignacio Golobisky, vice-president of the club. “It was necessary that the board of directors, representing the partners and supporters, announces the death of Andrés Balanta, accompanies and embraces with all his strength his family, his teammates and the technical staff. The immense pain, a terrible blow.”
The Colombian Football Federation also posted a message on its social networks saying: “The Colombian Football Federation regrets to announce the death of Andrés Balanta, player of the Colombian national team in its various categories. We extend our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.”
Native of Cali Balanta had three selections with the Colombia Espoirs team. Several clubs in the Argentine championship have paid tribute to this young player. The teams have recently resumed training during their summer break ahead of the start of the new season in February.