Gregory Mertens (2 February 1991 – 30 April 2015) was a Belgian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. His usual position was

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He began his senior career with

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

and was under contract with

Lokeren Lokeren () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second ...

before he suffered a fatal

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

during a reserve game in 2015.

Career

Mertens moved from the reserves of

K.A.A. Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (; English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Gent or by their nickname ' (), is a Belgian professional sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football tea ...

to the first team of

in the 2010–11 winter transfer window, at the recommendation of manager

Bob Peeters Bob Peeters (born 10 January 1974) is a Belgian football executive and former player and manager. He currently serves as sporting director of Challenger Pro League club Beveren. Club career Lierse Noted for his large stature, measuring 1.96 m ...

, who had been his coach at the Gent reserves the previous season. On 12 February 2011, Mertens made his senior debut for Cercle as an 89th-minute substitute for

Hans Cornelis Hans Cornelis (born 13 October 1982) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Challenger Pro League club Lokeren-Temse. Playing career Cornelis was part of a last minute transfer deal in the late ev ...

in a match against his former team

R.S.C. Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Division A and is the mos ...

. Cercle lost the match 1–0. On 23 May 2013, he scored his first hat trick against WS Woluwe.

Death

Mertens suffered a cardiac arrest during a reserve game for

against

K.R.C. Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk or Racing Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four championship title ...

on 27 April 2015. He was immediately taken to hospital where he was put in an artificially induced coma. He died on 30 April 2015 at around 16:30. Lokeren declared that Mertens had passed all fitness tests set by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

, and therefore the cause of his cardiac arrest needed to be established. On the day after his death, Lokeren lined up for their play-off match against

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. Th ...

in T-shirts bearing Mertens' name and squad number 4.

Honours

Lokeren *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 2013–14

References

External links

*
Gregory Mertens player info at the official Cercle Brugge site

Cerclemuseum.be
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mertens, Gregory 1991 births 2015 deaths Belgian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Belgian Pro League players People from Anderlecht R.S.C. Anderlecht players KAA Gent players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players Belgium men's youth international footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Association football players who died while playing Sport deaths in Belgium Footballers from Brussels 21st-century Belgian sportsmen

Career

Death

Honours

See also

References

External links