Remembering Dani Jarque, Espanyol Captain Dead At 26

Espanyol’s Dani Jarque was cremated yesterday after an enormous funeral service held in the club’s as-yet inaugurated stadium outside of Barcelona. The central defender collapsed on Saturday from heart failure while on the phone with his 8-months pregnant wife. He was 26.

Dani Jarque had only been team captain for a month prior to his weekend collapse, having played for the club since the age of 12 as a part of their youth league. He had been calling his wife from his hotel room in Coverciano (where Espanyola was staying on a pre-season tour of Italy) when he collapsed. She alerted two of his teammates, but medics on the scene were unable to revive him. This is just the most recent case of heart failure for the sport, still recovering from the sudden death of Spain’s Antonio Puerta two years ago.

Yesterday’s funeral services were held in the club’s new stadium, still officially unopened after playing host to a pre-season route of Liverpool only ten days ago. Tens of thousands of fans filed in, wearing blue and white, congregating at gate 21 (Jarque’s jersey number). Photographs of the coffin were not permitted by request of the family, and his body was later transported to a private funeral service. He was cremated an hour later.

The club now has some uncertain days ahead, but will not be canceling any upcoming matches. Meanwhile, teams across Europe have been paying tribute, and fans are loudly voicing support for any number of ways to memorialize the player (retiring his jersey, re-naming the stadium, re-naming gate 21, etc.) RIP, Dani.

Click on the picture below to check out a gallery of Dani Jarque’s funeral in Barcelona and in action on the field.

Tributes pour in after Espanyol captain Daniel Jarque dies suddenly at the age of 26 [Daily Mail]
The team returns to work tomorrow with a number of unknowns to be solved [ABC.ES]
Pain unstoppable in the final goodbye to Jarque [AS]