Nigerian footballer dies age 38 from "complications" just one month after burying his wife

A local FA has announced that Nigerian international and under-20s World Cup silver medalist, Gift Atulewa, has died at the age of 38. The striker, who played for the likes of Ocean Boys and Warri Wolves, was still mourning the death of his wife when he passed.

The authorities reported that Atulewa died in the early hours of yesterday morning (November 12) following complications with his blood pressure. The ex-footballer had recently travelled to Ivory Coast to complete a coaching course.

A spokesperson for the Delta State Football Association said: “We just buried the wife last month, that may have contributed to this development. He has blood pressure issues but he had been managing it.

“The day before yesterday, the condition became bad and he was taken to the hospital. They noticed he had malaria but aside from that, the blood pressure kept going up, we lost him this morning by 7am.

“As we are speaking, there is an ex-international football tournament going on in Delta State - he is part of the ex-Uwei where he comes from, he is part of their team. He scored the first goal of the tournament from a wonderful free kick that he is known for, he scored that goal like three weeks ago when the competition began.”

Atulewa is now the third Nigerian player from the 2005 under-20s team to have died, following Olufemi Adebayo and Isaac Promise.