Gregory Mertens
Mertens while at Lokeren in 2014
Personal information
Full name Gregory Mertens
Date of birth (1991-02-02)2 February 1991
Place of birth Anderlecht, Belgium
Date of death 30 April 2015(2015-04-30) (aged 24)
Place of death Genk, Belgium
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
2004–2005 Anderlecht
2005–2006 Dilbeek Sport
2006–2010 Gent
2010–2011 Cercle Brugge
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2014 Cercle Brugge 73 (5)
2014–2015 Lokeren 28 (0)
Total 101 (5)
International career
2006 Belgium U16 1 (0)
2009–2010 Belgium U19 5 (1)
2011 Belgium U21 7 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gregory Mertens (2 February 1991 – 30 April 2015) was a Belgian professional football player. His usual position was central defender. He began his senior career with Cercle Brugge and was under contract with Lokeren before he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest during a reserve game in 2015.

Career

Mertens moved from the reserves of K.A.A. Gent to the first team of Cercle Brugge in the 2010–11 winter transfer window, at the recommendation of manager Bob Peeters, 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 in a match against his former team R.S.C. Anderlecht. 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 Lokeren against K.R.C. Genk on 27 April 2015. He was immediately taken to hospital where he was put in an artificially induced coma.[1] He died on 30 April 2015 at around 16:30. Lokeren declared that Mertens had passed all fitness tests set by UEFA, and therefore the cause of his cardiac arrest needed to be established.[2]

On the day after his death, Lokeren lined up for their play-off match against Westerlo in T-shirts bearing Mertens' name and squad number 4.[3]

Honours

Lokeren

See also

References

  1. ↑ Short, Joe. "Belgian footballer Gregory Mertens in artificial coma after collapsing during match". Express.co.uk.
  2. ↑ "Gregory Mertens: Ex-Belgium U21 player dies after collapse". BBC Sport. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Gregory Mertens: Lokeren return to action after player's death". BBC Sport. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Lokeren remporte sa deuxième Coupe de Belgique". rtbf.be. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
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