Sport
Update: No change in Fabrice Muamba’s condition
FIFA President Sepp Blatter said on Twitter: “Shocked to hear about Fabrice Muamba. My thoughts are with him and his family, his club & loved ones at this difficult time.”
As Muamba’s teammates try to deal with the shock, their game against Aston Villa in the Premier League on Tuesday has been postponed.
“I have worked with Fabrice as a player at Birmingham and he has always been a terrific lad, nothing other than the perfect professional,” Villa manager Alex McLeish said. “He trained every day the way he went to play in games, full of intensity and enthusiasm. He is a manager’s dream in terms of his commitment to the team, the massive response throughout Europe and the world of football underlines how everybody has been touched by this tragic development.”
Fabrice Ndala Muamba was born in what was then called Zaire on April 6, 1988. His father, Marcel, was forced to flee to England before the rest of his family from what is now called Congo amid a civil war. He had worked for the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko, who was overthrown as president in 1997.
The rest of his family, including Fabrice, joined him in England in 1999 after they were granted asylum.
His road to a professional soccer career started when he joined Arsenal’s youth academy in 2002.
He made his debut at age 17 on October 25, 2005, in the League Cup at Sunderland, and was loaned to Birmingham in the League Championship the following season. The loan was made permanent in May 2007, and he made his Premier League debut for Birmingham in 2007-08 before joining Bolton in June 2008 in a deal worth more than 5 million pounds (US$8 million).
