Honduras’s Garcia dies at 29

CAIRO – 9 January 2017: Former Honduras national team player Juan Carlos Garcia, who also played for England's Wigan, died at the age of 29 in Tegucigalpa due to leukemia, which had led him to retire from the sport in 2015, Fenafuth, the National Autonomous Football Federation of Honduras, reported today.

Garcia, who was part of the Honduran team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, died at the hospital Escuela de Tegucigalpa.

After the announcement in February 2015 that he had leukemia, his team Wigan, where he played since 2013, supported him, and after a year he recovered and even considered playing with his club again in the 2016- 201 7 season, but it was not possible due to a relapse.

He returned to his country to continue fighting the illness with the hope of returning to the football field, according to stories of relatives and friends of the athlete.

With the Honduran team, he played around 30 games and contributed to his country’s success, qualifying for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

Garcia was known in North America as he scored a beautiful overhead goal against the United States in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, at the Metropolitan Olympic Stadium in San Pedro Sula.