Video footage showed Choirul Huda, who had played his entire career at Indonesia Super League outfit Persela, slamming into teammate Ramon Rodrigues in the 43rd minute of Sunday’s game in the Go-Jek Traveloka league. The 38-year-old was pronounced dead at the Regional General Hospital in Lamonga. Following his death, friends and family gathered around his casket later on sunday to perform funeral prayers. Indonesian football continued to mourn Huda on Monday. Watch a video of the fatal collision below
Huda was declared dead at 5pm local time, surrounded by the Persela squad who were with him at the hospital. Doctors said he stopped breathing and suffered a heart attack.
‘He received an emergency treatment for a few minutes in the hospital but he could not be saved. He died before 5:00 pm yesterday,’ Persela’s assistant coach Yuhronur Efendi told AFP.
Persela head coach Aji Santoso confirmed afterwards that he had died at hospital and said his passing had impacted the team hugely.
‘All of the players finished the game and went to the hospital, where it was announced that Choirul Huda had died. The loss of Choirul Huda has hit us all hard. We did not have time to a see a doctor, only to see his body.’
Doctors said the medical team tried to revive the veteran Huda, a former fringe player in the national set-up, for about an hour.
‘Choirul Huda suffered from traumatic collision with a team-mate which caused him to stop breathing and have cardiac arrest,’ Yudistiro Andri Nugroho, a doctor from Lamongan hospital, said in a statement.
Nugroho said Huda suffered possible neck and head trauma from the impact to his chest and lower jaw after he dived at the feet of on-rushing players and was caught by the legs of Rodrigues. His fellow players had gone straight to the hospital after the final whistle following their 2-0 win over Semen Padang and supporters later went to his house with candles, according to local media reports.
On their official Twitter page, Persela carried ‘farewell cap’ above a photo of Huda. According to the team’s Instagram page, the club will retire the number one jersey worn by Huda. The team paid tribute to Huda, who played for the team more than 500 times since 1999, calling him ‘The Real Legend’ of the club in a post on Twitter.
Thousands of fans also took to social media in memory of Huda, who had been known to Persela supporters as ‘One Man, One Club, One Love’. Huda leaves behind a wife and two children.
So sad. May his soul RIP.