The death of Maradona hit harder than most could imagine and the football world mourns. Diego Maradona's skills and flares on the pitch set him aside from most and his death is a great loss to football. Considering his contributions and dedication to the game, he will be forever missed.

The rate at which footballers died of heart attack is still on the low end but there is a possibility of it happening. Before Maradona's death, they have been other cases of footballers dying of a heart attack and some will be mentioned in the headings below.

Five Footballers to Have Died Of a Heart Attack

Marc-Vivien For

His death in 2003 was tragic. He collapsed while playing for Cameroon against Colombia in the confederation Cup semi-final. His death was caused by cardiomyopathy hypertrophia (a condition where the heart muscles become abnormally tick) which was a rare untraceable heart disease unless an extensive examination is been carried out.

Milklos Feher

The Benfica striker was just 24 years old while he died of cardiac arrhythmia (heart muscle disease) in 2004. Three hours before he died, he was handed a yellow card by the referee for time-wasting in stoppage time and he smiled at the referee before going down right on the pitch. His death was surrounded by mystery has his teammates were able to revive him while on the pitch but he was pronounced dead three hours later in the hospital.

Cristiano Jr

Talk about joy turn sour, then Cristiano Sebastiao de lima Junior has to come to mind. He died just age 25 in 2004 after a collision with the opposition goalkeeper after scoring a goal. It was his second goal in the federation cups finals. After the collision, attempts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was announced dead on arrival at the hosmat hospital where he was taken to. The cause of his death was Heart Stroke.

Phil O’Donnell

The 35-year-old midfielder died in a match while playing for Motherwell against Dundee in one of their league meetings in 2007. He died of heart failure just as he was about to be substituted in that match. He was a Scotland national and he played for Celtic and Sheffield Wednesday.

Cheick Tiote

The Ivorian died of a cardiac arrest at just age 30 while on a training session with his new club Beijing enterprises in 2017. The former Newcastle man was a combative midfielder while he was alive and his death sent the football world in shock. He was given a military burial ceremony in Ivory Coast