| General |
| Gregory Mertens | ||
| ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name: | Gregory Mertens | |
| Date of birth: | 2 February 1991 | |
| Place of birth: | Anderlecht,  Belgium
| |
| Date of death: | 30 April 2015 (aged 24) | |
| Place of death: | Genk, Belgium
| |
| Playing position: | Defender | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2010 2010-2011 |
Anderlecht Dilbeek Sport KAA Gent Cercle Brugge
| |
| Senior clubs | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls) |
| 2011-2014 2014-2015 Total |
Cercle Brugge Sporting Lokeren |
73 (5) 28 (0) 101 (5) |
| National team | ||
| 2006 2009-2010 2011 |
Belgium U16 Belgium U19 Belgium U21
|
1 (0) 5 (1) 7 (1) |
Gregory Mertens (2 February 1991 – 30 April 2015) was a Belgian footballer. He died during a reserve match for Lokeren against KRC Genk.
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. 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.
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.
External links[]
Gregory Mertens at Soccerway- Gregory Mertens player info at the official Cercle Brugge site (Dutch)
- Cerclemuseum.be (Dutch)
- Belgium Stats at Belgian FA
| Belgium
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