Cristiano Ronaldo and 3 other footballers whose kids died

• Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo announced the death of his son who died at birth
• Ronaldo together with his wife Georgina Rodriguez were expecting twins – a boy and a girl
• But his death opened wounds for other footballers who lost their kids to accidents and cancer alike

The death of a newborn baby boy for Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo shook the world but even worse, it opened wounds for other footballers who lost children to death.

Ronaldo together with his wife Georgina Rodriguez were expecting twins – a boy and a girl. However, the boy died at birth.

He said such a loss comes with a lot of pain that only a parent can explain.

“It is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that our baby boy has passed away. It is the greatest pain that any parents can feel. Only the birth of our baby girl gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness.

“We would like to thank the doctors and nurses for all their expert care and support. We are all devastated at this loss and we kindly ask for privacy at this very difficult time. Our baby boy, you are our angel. We will always love you.”

As a result, Ronaldo will not feature in the Manchester United and Liverpool clash.

And as millions of his fans condoled with him, there are past cases of footballers who mourned the loss of their children. Here they are.

Cristiano Ronaldo with Georgina Rodriguez. Photo/AS.English

COLIN COOPER

Finlay Cooper died in 2002. He died despite his father, Colin Cooper, then a defender for Middlesbrough, making a heroic effort to remove a screw that choked him to death.

The screw dropped from a child’s chair choked the two-year-old according to an inquest held four years later.

Finlay was playing with his three older sisters at the family home near Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, in January 2002 when the screw fell and Finlay put it in his mouth.

According to Deputy Coroner Geoff Fell, the death was the result of “a sad accident”, he told Harrogate Coroner’s Court heard.

One of Finlay’s sisters removed the screw from the boy’s mouth and assumed she had put it in a place where the youngster couldn’t get it, the court heard.

However, he reached for it and another of his sisters saw it and alerted her father who frantically tried to remove it.

Later, at Harrogate District Hospital, the screw was removed, and the kid was pronounced dead.

MICHAEL BALLACK

Michael Ballack. Photo/Sporting news

Emergency officials in Portugal confirmed the death of Michael Ballack’s son, Emilio Ballack who was riding a quad bike when it crashed in 2021.

Ballack was the former Chelsea player and Germany captain. Local media stated that Emilio,18, was riding the bike on his father’s property in Tróia, a peninsula about an hour south of Lisbon. Firefighters arrived to the scene shortly after 2 a.m. and attempted CPR, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Reports by the media stated that he was riding on uneven surfaces near his family home. The quad bike rolled back and collapsed on him.

BRAD JONES

Brad Jones. Photo/Sky Sports

The former Liverpool backup goalkeeper lost his son Lucas Jones to Leukemia. Liverpool players and the football world mourned Lucas’s death in 2011.

Several of Brad’s former Middlesbrough teammates wore black armbands for their Championship match against Blackpool that week as did Liverpool’s players and manager when they played against Chelsea the same week.

In Brad’s home country of Australia, a similar tribute was offered. Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory players wore black armbands for a moment of mourning prior to their match.

To show just how supportive the football community is when tragedy strikes, players from opposing clubs tweeted messages of condolence to Brad.

GARY STEVENS

Ex-England footballer Gary Stevens’ four-year-old kid Jack Stevens succumbed to a rare type of blood cancer.

Oncologists discovered a rare kind of blood cancer in Steven’s son Jack.

Jack’s family was optimistic that he would recover from his diagnosis of juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia after he underwent a stem cell transplant in 2020.

The four-year-old received the stem cells from his elder brother Oliver. They had ‘engrafted’ into his bone marrow, allowing him to manufacture his own white blood cells, to fight infection.

According to Mirror, after two rounds of preparatory chemotherapy, to which Jack responded well to, the transplant operation was accelerated, negating the original plan for five treatment cycles.

During the week, he returned to live with his mother Louise in a neighbouring apartment after being discharged.