Gregory Mertens

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.^[citation needed]

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

• Belgian Cup: 2013–14[4]

See also

• List of association footballers who died while playing
• List of association footballers who died during their careers

References

1. Short, Joe (28 April 2015). "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.

External links

• Gregory Mertens at Soccerway
• Gregory Mertens player info at the official Cercle Brugge site (in Dutch)
• Cerclemuseum.be (in Dutch)
• Gregory Mertens at the Royal Belgian Football Association