The ambulance did not enter the pitch at Tenerife’s Heliodoro stadium because the stadium’s emergency protocol only allows it onto the grass if medical staff activate an “absolute immobilization” protocol — and that protocol was not activated on the night Jesús de Miguel suffered cardiac arrest, ara.cat reported.
The CD Tenerife forward collided with the Andorra goalkeeper in a challenge for the ball during the final minutes of the match at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez López on the island of Tenerife. He suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest on the field and died the following day at hospital, according to the report.
Faustino Afonso, one of the club’s doctors, summed up the shock of the night: “A 30-year-old boy can’t die playing football.”
The Final Minutes at the Heliodoro
According to ara.cat, de Miguel went down after the collision with the Andorra goalkeeper in the closing minutes of the match. Medical staff attended to him on the pitch, and he was later taken to hospital, where he died the next day.
Afonso said he would not judge the play itself — that, he said, falls to the referee, the disciplinary committee and the courts. His area, he said, was what happens after the final whistle. And in the images from that night, one question kept repeating: why did the ambulance not enter the field?
The Stadium Protocol That Kept the Ambulance Outside
Per the report, the Heliodoro’s protocol establishes that an injured player is carried on a stretcher to an ambulance parked outside the stadium, next to the dressing rooms. The ambulance only enters the pitch if the doctors activate the absolute immobilization protocol — and that night, it was not activated.
That detail sits at the center of the questions now surrounding the emergency response. The club’s medical team has defended its actions, and Afonso thanked the medical services for giving everything until the end, according to ara.cat.
Tenerife forward Jesús de Miguel has died from injuries sustained in a collision with Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono during a Spanish second-division match. The club confirmed his death on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at 8am, expressing deep sorrow and sending condolences to his… pic.twitter.com/gZFGsbzt2w
What FIFA’s Emergency Manual Requires
FIFA’s manual on emergency care is explicit on both points at issue, the report states. After a hard collision with a player lying on the ground, it calls for immediately protecting the player’s cervical spine. If there is cardiac arrest, the player must be moved immobilized on a spinal board, together with the defibrillator, as a single unit — without interrupting resuscitation for more than ten seconds.
The manual adds that, whenever possible, it is preferable for the ambulance to enter the playing field. According to the report, this was precisely the case in which the stadium’s own protocol provides for the ambulance to enter.
Decisions Made Long Before Matchday
The answer to why the ambulance stayed outside, the ara.cat report argues, was decided long before that Monday night, in two areas: operations and design.
On operations: in an emergency there is no time to think, only to act. That is why FIFA insists everything be planned “well before the situation occurs,” describing it as the medical version of a set-piece play — everyone knows their role and their position before anything happens. Under the pressure and emotion of the moment, anyone can make a bad decision; a clear, rehearsed protocol decides in advance. The report argues this is the key to what was seen, and that such a protocol must be trained until it becomes muscle memory — reviewed before every match and tested in drills with the club, the stadium and the medical services. In a hospital these situations are routine; in a stadium, years can pass without one occurring. That is why the training cannot be optional.
Design Flaws Worsen Emergency Access in Stadiums
The second area is design: an ambulance must be able to reach the pitch, both in stadiums and training facilities. No regulation requires it, so it is up to the operator to resolve once the facility is delivered, adapting the protocol to what the building allows. The report argues this should be solved at the design stage — a vehicle access route to the field and a space in the tunnel where the ambulance can wait during the match, facing the pitch. In the design phase it costs little; once the facility is built, much more.
The case of Damar Hamlin shows it is not theory. In January 2023, the Buffalo Bills player suffered cardiac arrest on the field, was resuscitated on the grass with the ambulance alongside, and survived. Six days later, at the next home game, an ambulance waited in the tunnel, facing the field and ready to enter — in a stadium built in 1973. An old stadium makes it harder, but not impossible.
With Spain co-hosting the 2030 World Cup and many stadiums being renovated, the report argues, these decisions are cheap right now. Owners and federations should ask: can an ambulance reach our pitch? And do we constantly train the protocols that protect players and spectators?
Questions Still Open After the Death of Jesús de Miguel
Whether Jesús de Miguel could have been saved will never be known, the report concludes. What can be asked is whether things can be done better, in both design and operations. The investigation into the emergency response and the stadium’s protocols remains the open question as the club and Spanish football absorb the death of a 30-year-old player in the final minutes of a match.
🇪🇸: Tenerife striker Jesús de Miguel dies after chest impact in collision with Andorra goalkeeper Owono. CD Tenerife confirmed that 30-year-old forward Jesús de Miguel Alameda died on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, after a collision with FC Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono during… pic.twitter.com/Dk5baO9UQh
Explains Jesús De Miguel’s Death and Pitch Ambulance Rules
Who was Jesús de Miguel?
According to ara.cat, he was a forward for CD Tenerife who died the day after suffering cardiorespiratory arrest following a collision with the Andorra goalkeeper in the final minutes of a match at the Heliodoro stadium.
Why didn’t the ambulance enter the pitch?
The stadium’s protocol parks the ambulance outside next to the dressing rooms and only sends it onto the grass if doctors activate the absolute immobilization protocol, which was not activated that night, the report states.
What does FIFA’s manual say about ambulances on the field?
It says that whenever possible it is preferable for the ambulance to enter the playing field, and that a player in cardiac arrest must be moved immobilized on a spinal board with the defibrillator, without interrupting resuscitation for more than ten seconds.
Has this happened before in sport?
Yes — in January 2023 Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field, was revived on the grass with an ambulance alongside, and survived; at the next home game an ambulance waited in the tunnel facing the pitch.
Who wrote the article?
The article was written by Ramón Jesús González Márquez, a sports consultant who worked at FC Barcelona from 2016 to 2019.
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