Ahmed Refaat: The death of the Egyptian national team player after his health deteriorated following a heart attack

On March 11, Ahmed Refaat suffered a cardiac arrest for more than an hour after falling during the final minutes of his team’s match against Al-Ittihad Club in Alexandria. He was subsequently transferred to a nearby hospital to receive treatment.

At that time, Modern Sport Club published a statement on Facebook, reassuring the club’s fans and supporters about Ahmed Refaat’s health condition and explaining the latest developments in his health condition.

The administration of Zamzam Hospital, where the player was receiving treatment, explained in a post on Facebook that Rafat arrived “in a state of cardiac arrest, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed for about two hours in the emergency department.”

Many rumors spread after the incident that the cause of the crisis was the player taking steroids and fat-burning medications.

But the doctor supervising Ahmed’s treatment said at the time that “the heart condition is mixed, but there is no concern, and the player drank a large number of cups of coffee before the match, which caused his heart rate to increase and led to him entering this condition.”

Fans of the player Ahmed Refaat and Egyptian football fans interacted with this tragedy on social media, and published their condolences and prayed for mercy and forgiveness for the deceased.

Zamalek Club mourned its former player Ahmed Refaat on X (formerly Twitter) and offered its condolences to the player’s family and fans.

Alaa Mubarak, son of former Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, posted a special condolence message on his X account, saying,

Ahmed Refaat left the hospital last April after recovering, and told local media at the time that he had recovered and was likely to return to the pitch soon.

On June 24, Ahmed Refaat appeared for the first time after leaving the hospital, in a training session with his Modern Sport teammates, just 12 days before his death.

Ahmed Refaat joined Modern Future from Al-Masry in October 2022, but he was soon loaned to Al-Wahda in the UAE in January 2023 for six months. He had also played for Enppi and Zamalek in Egypt before that.

He participated in 7 matches with the Egyptian national team, during which he scored two goals. He also won the African Cup of Nations under 20 years with the Egyptian national team in 2013.