Player branded ‘Prem’s best-ever African player’ died on the pitch aged just 28
A midfielder branded the "Premier League's best-ever African player" died on the pitch aged just 28.
Marc-Vivien Foe tragically passed away in June 2003 after collapsing whilst playing for Cameroon, with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy later deemed to be the cause of his death. He was a Manchester City player at the time of his death and tributes poured in from around the football world for the defensive midfielder.
Another Cameroonian midfielder, Stephane Mbia, has hailed Foe as the best African player to have ever graced the English top flight as he reflected on his passing over 19 years on from the tragic event.
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Speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes at the launch of their World Cup Free-To-Play Halftime Quiz, he explained: “For me it's simple: the best Cameroonian footballer to play in the Premier League was Marc-Vivien Foe.
"He was so good; he was at Manchester City and he was my idol when I was younger. Geremi I would put up there as well, but I just loved everything Foe did on the pitch, he was a great player who scored some great goals in his career.
“I think I would have been around 17 years old when he fell down in that game against Colombia, and after that, they tried to help him on the side of the pitch but it was very difficult. That's the image I have of him now; when I think about Foe, I think about this image.
“He was a big, big player, not just in my country, but in the whole of Africa. Everybody across the continent was saddened by the news, everybody cried – it was very difficult.
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“I was in France at this moment, and everyone over there was upset too, because we'd never seen anything like it. You know, when you see these terrible stories of other players who have had incidents on the pitch, it just brings back this memory of Foe for me.
“I met him when I was at Kadji Sports Academy in Cameroon, he came over and saw us in the year 2000 so I got to speak to him then as a young boy. It was a dream come true for me.
“The medical team, I don't know, I don't really like to speak about it because it was very sad, they took their time and really tried to save him but they couldn't.
"It was such a bad moment, a bad time for Cameroonian and African football. When you speak about Marc-Vivien Foe everyone only had good things to say about him.”
Foe made 73 appearances in the Premier League for City and West Ham United, scoring 10 goals from midfield. He also had spells in France with Lens and Lyon.
At international level, he scored eight times in 62 caps for Cameroon and appeared at two World Cups in 1994 and 2002. Foe was also part of the sides that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2000 and 2002.
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