Gregory Mertens (2 February 1991 – 30 April 2015) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. His usual position was

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He last played for

Lokeren Lokeren () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second ...

Career

Mertens moved from the reserves of

K.A.A. Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

to the first team of

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisio ...

in the 2010–11 winter transfer window, at the recommendation of manager

Bob Peeters Bob Peeters (born 10 January 1974) is a Belgian football manager and former player currently manager of Eerste Divisie club Helmond Sport. Club career Lierse Noted for his large stature, measuring 1.96 m, Peeters grew up in Wommelgem, Antwerp ...

, 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 Hans Cornelis (born 13 October 1982) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Belgian Division 2 club Lokeren-Temse. Playing career Cornelis was part of a last minute transfer deal in the late eveni ...

in a match against his former team

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

. 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

against

K.R.C. Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk, Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four cham ...

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 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

, 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 Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. The ...

in T-shirts bearing Mertens' name and squad number 4.

Honours

Lokeren *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 2014 Belgian Cup Final, 2013–14

References

External links

*
Gregory Mertens player info at the official Cercle Brugge site

Cerclemuseum.be
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mertens, Gregory 1991 births 2015 deaths Belgian footballers Association football defenders Belgian Pro League players People from Anderlecht R.S.C. Anderlecht players K.A.A. Gent players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players Belgium youth international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Association football players who died while playing Sport deaths in Belgium Footballers from Brussels

Career

Death

Honours

See also

References

External links