The Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) decided this Sunday to suspend the matches that remain from the eleventh date of the Apertura Tournament after the death this Saturday, due to a suicide, of the soccer player Williams Martínez of Villa Teresa.
The suspension is given after the request of the Uruguayan Mutual of Professional Footballers (MUFP) to stop the activities -both matches and training sessions- to have a day of reflection.
“In accordance with the resolution of the MUFP, which requests the suspension of the remainder of the disputed date as a result of the death of the player Williams Martinez, the Executive Board resolves to suspend the pending matches of the 11th Stage of the Apertura Tournament”, published the AUF on its official Twitter account.
This Sunday three games were to be played while on Monday the day was going to close with the last game of the date. At the moment, the AUF did not announce when the eleventh date of Uruguayan First Division football will resume, whose only leader is Plaza Colonia.
Martínez, 38, was playing the Apertura tournament of the Second Division with Villa Teresa, although he had been away from the campus for some dates because he had been diagnosed with covid-19 on June 23. The experienced footballer had a long career that included teams such as Defensor Sporting, Argentine Ferro, West Bromwich, where he shared a team with the renowned ex-footballer Nwankwo Kanu, or Reims, where he was managed by Franco-Spanish Luis Fernández).
Martínez’s death occurred on the same day that Uruguay commemorates the National Day for the Prevention of Suicide.
According to the latest registry presented by the Uruguayan Government this Friday, in 2020 there were 718 suicides and a rate of 20.30 per 100,000 inhabitants, so this problem is one of those that arouses the greatest concerns at the national level. Of the total cases, 80.92% are men, although in relation to suicide attempts, women are the ones that register the most.
In February of this year, the Uruguayan soccer player Santiago ‘Morro’ García committed suicide at his home in Argentina while he was playing for Godoy Cruz in that country. Both players were teammates in 2014, at the Uruguayan River Plate.
EFE
???? In accordance with the MUFP resolution, which requests the suspension of the remainder of the disputed date as a result of the death of the player Williams Martinez, the Executive Board resolves to suspend the pending matches of the 11th Stage of the Opening Tournament. pic.twitter.com/jV6b8NiHPJ
– Uruguayan Championship (@CampeonatoAUF) July 18, 2021
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