Serious news has been circulating in recent days linking the rise in deaths in the world of football to the COVID-19 vaccine, suggesting an impact of the vaccines on heart muscles. These articles have emerged following an increase in sports-related fatalities this year and cases of cardiac arrest, prompting some to connect the cause to athletes receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. What is the truth?
According to Reuters, the claims that 108 football players registered with FIFA died over a six-month period in 2021 are unfounded, and there is no evidence that the alleged deaths are linked to COVID-19 vaccines. Thousands of social media users participated in posts on Twitter and Facebook, making specific claims about the number of deaths in the past six months up to November, including some from verified accounts. A British official and former member of the European Parliament wrote: "Deaths among football players increased fivefold during 2021." In a video, a man expressed angrily: "The players took the vaccines and thus unknowingly participated in a pharmaceutical experiment without long-term data. Let’s pretend this isn’t happening."
Despite the grave claims that have led media outlets to discuss the matter seriously, the mentioned figure (108 deaths) does not pertain exclusively to players registered with FIFA. A Reuters investigation also found numerous "unrealistic" errors linking the 108 alleged deaths to COVID-19 vaccines.
The figure 108, circulated by activists as the number of FIFA player deaths this year, initially appeared in an article from a website called "Real Time News," which describes itself as a media organization with a "deep sense of mission and desire for fundamental change in public awareness." In the same article, published on November 13, the author claimed that 108 "professional athletes, coaches, collegiate and youth athletes" had died since December 2020. However, upon further investigation by Reuters into the list of the "108," it was found that the statistics were compiled from reports of deaths of individuals involved in sports, aged between 12 and 64, across various sports that were not limited to football and spanning different levels of professionalism, including professional, semi-professional, and amateur levels.
In the "Real Time News" article, the author stated that the majority of the 108 deaths were "heart-related" and emphasized that they occurred after COVID-19 vaccines were globally introduced. The article stated: "This substantial number of deaths tells a different story than what the media repeats about the importance of vaccinating athletes, which suggests that athletes who refuse vaccination are just a handful of 'vaccine opponents.'"
While it is true that many of the deaths were linked in news reports to heart issues, there is currently no evidence proving a common link between COVID-19 vaccines and the deaths. According to Reuters, in 53 of the cases mentioned, cause of death was reported, including heart attacks from known or previously unknown heart diseases, while other cases included various causes unrelated to COVID-19, such as cerebral aneurysm, head injuries, a motorcycle accident, and one suicide.
What did FIFA say? Reuters presented the claims to FIFA, which reiterated its statement to Reuters in November: "FIFA is not aware of an increase in cardiac arrest cases as mentioned in the claim, and there have been no reports regarding athletes receiving COVID-19 vaccines and their connection to health problems." John Ring, CEO of the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, stated that myocarditis and pericarditis remain a "minimal risk" with COVID-19 vaccines, and physical exercise is not considered a potential risk for those who have been vaccinated.
At the end of the report, Reuters confirmed that there is no evidence to support the claims of 108 football players dying in 2021, and the published list of athletes does not demonstrate a common link between athlete deaths and COVID-19 vaccines.
