NEED TO KNOW

• A soccer player reportedly died after signs of a cardiac arrest were missed during a soccer game in England
• On Jan. 31, 2024,  Adam Ankers, 17, was playing for his Wycombe Wanderers Foundation's under-19s team when he complained of a tightening chest before falling unconscious
• PEOPLE has reached out to the Football Association, West London Coroner's court and Wycombe Wanderers Foundation for comment, but didn’t immediately receive responses

A soccer player reportedly died after signs of a cardiac arrest were missed during a soccer game in England.

On Jan. 31, 2024,  Adam Ankers, 17, was playing for his Wycombe Wanderers Foundation's under-19s team when he complained of a tightening chest before falling unconscious, according to the BBC, Bucks Free Press and National World.

Near the end of the second half of the game, Ankers was heard shouting, “My chest is tight,” per Bucks Free Press.

He was then taken to a local hospital, where he died four days later following brain damage, the BBC reported. 

The inquiry into Ankers’ death began on Monday, March 2,  according to Bucks Free Press.

During the court hearing, Adam’s death was found to have been “more than minimally” contributed to by the failure of a cardiac arrest being identified.

PEOPLE has reached out to the Football Association, West London Coroner's court and Wycombe Wanderers Foundation for comment, but didn’t immediately receive responses.

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This led to no one performing CPR or using a defibrillator on Ankers before medical staff arrived at the scene, per Bucks Free Press.

While a defibrillator had been brought to the scene, people were confused about whether it would be safe for Ankers, per the BBC.

“There was a missed opportunity to deliver basic life support for Adam,” assistant coroner at West London Coroner’s Court, Valerie Charbit, said in a statement, per Bucks Free Press.

“Agonal breathing and cardiac arrest were not identified by the 999-call handler or those on the pitch, and first basic life support was performed by paramedics when they arrived,” she continued. “He died due to an inherited heart condition, ARVC (arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy), that had not been identified at the time of his death.”

In her statement, the coroner called for the Football Association to make sudden cardiac arrest training compulsory for “at least one staff” member on the field.

“I do consider it a matter of concern for grassroots football clubs affiliated with the FA that there isn’t mandatory cardiac arrest training for at least one person in the match,” she said, per Bucks Free Press.

The coroner added that following Ankers’ death, a sudden collapse during exercise now requires immediate CPR, thanks to NHS England updating its Pathways telephone triage system.

“It must evidently be very difficult for the family to know that if Adam had collapsed after May 2025, then his collapse would have automatically been treated as a sudden cardiac arrest,” she said.

We are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic death of season ticket holder Adam Ankers, and our thoughts and condolences go out to his friends, team-mates and family at this very difficult time.

Rest in peace, Adam. https://t.co/Tcbnr9Isp9

— Wycombe Wanderers (@wwfcofficial) February 6, 2024

“Adam’s death has had a devastating impact on his family and friends. We hope that all the organisations and people touched by this inquest will learn and improve,” Ankers’ parents said in a statement following the hearing. “We also thank the coroner for five proposed prevention of future death orders, and hope that no other family will have to lose a child this way.”

Read the original article on People