Tenerife announced the death of forward Demiguel, who died after being violently kneed by the opposing team's goalkeeper during Monday's game. (Reuters photo)
Professor Ye Wenling, former chairman of the Taiwan Sports Medicine Association
On November 2, 2026, in the Spanish Football Second Division, De Miguel of Tenerife was hit by the opponent's goalkeeper, Andorra goalkeeper Owono, with a flying knee and hit his chest during the game. He suffered a cardiac arrest on the spot. Despite emergency rescue, he unfortunately passed away on the morning of November 3. Sudden death is not uncommon in sports, and cases of major injuries caused by player collisions are also common. However, this incident still caused shock in the football world. Many stars expressed their grief, and various football associations and clubs also expressed their condolences.
We carefully examined the process of the game. This was a standard defensive counterattack. The defender of Tenerife passed the ball through the midfield with his big foot. As a forward, Demiguel immediately crossed the midfield line and was ready to chase the ball. Not far from the midfield, Andorra goalkeeper Owono actually collided directly with Demiguel. He also knew that he would get a red card, so he walked out of the field directly. However, what he didn't understand was that his collision directly caused the loss of a human life.
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All I can say is that this is extremely bad behavior. Because the goalkeeper should not rush so far to defend at all, the goalkeeper can only use his hands within the penalty area and use appropriate protective means. For example, when receiving a high ball, raise your knees to protect yourself from being hit. The goalkeeper ran into the midfield and directly hit the opponent. This was simply an act of murder and far exceeded the moral bottom line of an athlete.
Even if the referee gives him a red card, so what? Because his opponent may suffer a serious injury, and such an injury may cost him a lot of time and money, may never be able to compete, or even completely lose his athletic ability. Or worse, lose your life. Most players who participate in contact sports are mentally prepared for the fact that such sports may cause injuries. But the sports field is not the same as the ancient Roman arena. It seems that we should regulate malicious injuries on the sports field to protect the normal conduct of sports competitions.
On the sports field, due to the rise of male hormones and the requirements for competitive victory and defeat, coupled with the requirements for faster, greater impact, and better visual effects, the result is more physical collisions. The intervention of commercial interests has undoubtedly made physical collisions more intense and frequent. At this time, actions on the edge of the rules are not news. In the final of this World Cup, even the runner-up Argentina team, kicking, pulling, and kicking people are not uncommon scenes. This level of ugliness is truly unparalleled. But at least there is no serious malicious harm to the opponent's player's body. The important reason is that these players themselves are also of extraordinary worth and have good skills. They are more able to control their emotions and movements.
But in competitions at different levels, due to the different qualities of players, different competition conditions, and different environments in different countries, we have no way to protect athletes by relying solely on sports competition rules. Especially among the common people, most people just pursue sweating and health, even in competitions. However, there are always people who treat the sports field as an arena and often behave in a non-standard manner. In most cases, the competitors will be tolerant.
But the problem is that if such behavior has caused injuries that require the injured to receive medical or other treatment, sports rules are actually unable to protect many athletes. Even judicial officers will most likely believe that sports inherently cause harm. This is expected, not unexpected. But the problem is that some people's moral bottom line is not that of ordinary people. They think that the sports field is a legal arena, and if you hurt others, it is just a foul. Therefore, there is still the largest gap between sports fouls and criminal law injuries. This means that we need a special law for sports injuries to protect many sports groups and avoid more regrettable incidents.
