Soccer Star Christian Benitez Dies of Cardiac Arrest at 27

Ecuadorian soccer star Christian Benitez, passed away on Monday in Qatar of cardiac arrest, according to sources from the El Jaish Football Club, where he was currently playing.

The 27-year-old had only recently helped Mexican team America become the League's champions and had also won the coveted, most valuable player award only two months ago.

The striker is survived by his wife, Liseth Chala and their three children.

Ricardo Peláez, a director for club America in Mexico City, said that the whole club was completely shocked by the news and still could not believe it.

Benitez' manager, Jose Chamorro, said that he had been complaining about abdominal pains for the past few days, but that he didn't believe the condition to be anything series.

No official cause of death has been released but a rumour surrounding the player's death is that the cause was a peritonitis, which was poorly attended in the past.

After Benitez won a championship with America earlier this year, he expressed his desire to play in another league despite the effort that team made to retain him. Only a few weeks ago the player was traded to the El Jaish Football Club in a reported contract that was worth over 15 million dollars.

"We never wanted him to leave America, he was a great player, but at the end we had to respect his desires to move forward," Peláez said.

According to Cleber Chala, Benitez' father in law, the player was rushed to the hospital after his abdominal pain had intensified, but he wasn't attended properly because there was no doctor at the facilities, so they had to wait. The player then lost consciousness and efforts to revive him proved to be unsuccessful.

The current America coach also said that Benitez health was enviable and the whole team was distraught by the news. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto shared his condolences on Twitter on Monday afternoon. "I'm sorry to hear of the death of Christian Benitez. My condolences go out to all his family and fans."

Manchester United striker Javier Chicharito Hernandez also shared his thoughts on the social network, "Very sad and shocked by the death of Chucho Benitez, all the best to his family and loved ones..."

Christian "Chucho" Benitez was born on May 1, 1986 in the capital of Ecuador, Quito. He began his professional soccer career in El Nacional, a local Ecuadorian team, where after a couple of successful seasons he was drafted by Mexican team Santos Laguna. After winning a championship with Santos, Benitez was loaned to Birmingham City FC in England, where he only scored four goals in two seasons.

Benitez returned to Mexico to play with Santos Laguna and was traded to America where he was a key part in the 2013 Clausura championship by becoming the league's top scorer for the third time in a row.