Football in mourning as Tenerife’s Jesús de Miguel dies after on-pitch collision

Tenerife forward Jesús de Miguel has died, aged 30, after colliding with Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono in a Spanish second-division match. The club said he died at 8 am on Tuesday, having been moved to intensive care the previous afternoon. He never regained consciousness after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest.

The incident came in added time of a game that had been postponed by 24 hours because of forecast torrential rain. With the score level at 2-2 in the 96th minute, a long ball was sent upfield. De Miguel chased it, and Owono rushed far out of his area and jumped into him in the centre circle.

Owono was sent off immediately, and De Miguel lay unconscious while players from both sides called for medical help. Referee Manuel Ángel Pérez Hernández formally abandoned the match in the 108th minute.

Medics restored De Miguel’s pulse in the ambulance, and he was taken to the Hospital Universitario de Nuestra Señora de Candelaria in Santa Cruz. Tenerife said he was breathing without assistance and was stable but critical.

At 5 am, the club reported that his neurological condition had deteriorated, and he died three hours later. In a statement, Tenerife said it was devastated and that there were “no words of consolation.”

Tributes followed from across Spanish football. Andorra’s majority shareholder, Gerard Piqué, said he was deeply sorry, and the club offered its sincere condolences. Barcelona and Real Madrid also paid their respects.

De Miguel spent most of his career in the third tier with clubs including Fuenlabrada, Unionistas de Salamanca and Castellón. He was Castellón’s top scorer when they won promotion to the second division in 2024, and he joined Tenerife in 2025.

Out of respect, the Spanish football federation postponed all Tuesday fixtures in the Copa del Rey and the Copa de la Reina.