Marc Vivien Foe’s legacy and pre-Afcon medical tests

Cameroon great Vivien Foe died in the 2003 Confederations Cup

What you need to know:

  • Africa Cup of Nations. These are different from doping tests and are normally done before a major Caf or Fifa tournament.
  • They are meant to avert any future tragedies on the pitch

It is 13 years and five months now since a tragedy that would go on to change, for the better, the whole outlook of health of footballers happened.
The Confederations Cup semi-final between Cameroon and Colombia at Lyon’s Stade de Gerland was in the 73rd minute, and Marc-Vivien Foe was jogging along – all by himself - without any trouble. Or so it seemed.

But suddenly the powerful Cameroonian, 28 at the time, collapsed to the ground in the centre circle, prompting medical and support staff to rush and try to resuscitate him.
They were to later carry Foe off on a stretcher to the entrails of the stadium, where attempts to restart the player’s heart failed and ‘Marco’, as he was affectionately known by his team-mates, was pronounced dead.
A first autopsy failed to establish the cause of Foe’s death, but the second found he had been suffering from a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Vivien Foe’s legacy
It is after Foe’s death that Fifa, and its elite associations, set out to work on huge improvements in the testing of footballers for heart problems ahead of tournaments and the treatment they receive during matches.
That is why December 10-18 has been designated for Caf medical check-ups of the 16 teams that will compete at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon next month.
Dr. James Sekajugo, a renowned Ugandan sports physician and Fifa medical committee member, will be one of the medics on duty when Cranes players are tested ahead of their return to the Nations Cup finals for the first time in four decades.

“This Pre-Competition Medical Assessment (PCMA) came as a Fifa ruling, following the tragic event when Marc-Vivien Foe succumbed to heart complications, that all players must undergo a thorough heart test before any tournament,” said Dr. Sekajugo.
Sekajugo spoke SCORE at the weekend ahead of his trip to Japan for the Club World Cup, where he will head the Fifa medical team throughout the event.
Goalkeeper Dennis Onyango, a Caf Champions League winner with Mamelodi Sundowns, will be the other Ugandan at the show in Japan. “The test results (of the 16 Afcon teams) must then be submitted to Caf to confirm that all players are in the best health condition to participate in the tournament.”
A Ugandan player, Edward Ssali, was in 2011 found to have a heart complication in the Pre-Chan medical tests, a condition that ruled him out of the tournament in Sudan.

Some reports suggested at the time that the player had failed a drugs test, the reason Fufa was advised to have him out of the squad. But Dr. Sekajugo vehemently dismisses the reports.
“No, no no,” said Dr. Sekajugo, “When we reviewed the player, we found an abnormality in the heart. So we advised he be pulled out of the team to play.
“PCMA is different from anti-doping tests. Anti-doping tests are of two types - the unannounced (out of competition), and those during the competition, which everyone is aware of.
“In the case of Ssali, we advise the federation to follow up and help the affected player. For cases of a positive doping result, we follow it with a ban.”

Ssali’s condition was arrested early and corrected, the Vipers player going on to play until announcing his retirement on the club website in July last year.
While on-and-off field medical treatment and pre-match tests have greatly improved in developed countries - a case in point the miraculous recovery of cardiac-arrested Fabrice Muamba in the UK three years ago; the area still has a long way to go in Uganda and most of Africa.