Jarque in action for Espanyol |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Daniel Jarque i González | ||
| Date of birth | 1 January 1983 | ||
| Place of birth | Barcelona, Spain | ||
| Date of death | 8 August 2009 (aged 26) | ||
| Place of death | Florence, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Playing position | Centre back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Cooperativa | |||
| 1995–2001 | Espanyol | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2001–2004 | Espanyol B | 80 | (0) |
| 2002–2009 | Espanyol | 173 | (8) |
| Total | 253 | (8) | |
| National team | |||
| 2001 | Spain U17 | 4 | (0) |
| 2001–2002 | Spain U19 | 10 | (1) |
| 2003 | Spain U20 | 3 | (0) |
| 2003–2005 | Spain U21 | 19 | (3) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Daniel Jarque i González (1 January 1983 – 8 August 2009) was a Spanish footballer who played as a central defender.
Jarque played his entire career with Espanyol, and was named team captain one month before his death from a heart attack, at the age of 26.[1]
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Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, and a product of local RCD Espanyol's youth system, Jarque made his La Liga debut with hometown club on 20 October 2002, in a match against Recreativo de Huelva during 2002–03[2] and, after 15 appearances in two seasons, went on to become a defensive mainstay for a side that won the 2006 Spanish Cup.
In 2006–07, after renewing his contract until 2009,[3] Jarque appeared in 14 UEFA Cup contests, as Espanyol reached the final, lost on penalties to Sevilla FC. In the previous league season, he contributed with four league goals, as Espanyol finished 15th.
At the start of the 2009–10 season, Jarque relieved Raúl Tamudo of his captain duties.[4]
According to several online Spanish newspapers, Jarque was found dead during Espanyol's pre-season, done in Coverciano, Florence, Italy. He was on the phone with his girlfriend in the team hotel when he suffered a heart attack.
Some other news sources say that Jarque's girlfriend (who was seven months into her pregnancy)[5] reported his absence to his roommate, Ferran Corominas.[1][6]
On 15 August 2009, Arsenal captain Cesc Fàbregas, a former team-mate of Jarque in the Spanish under-21 side, dedicated his second goal in Arsenal's 6–1 Premier League win at Everton to Jarque, by raising a shirt with his name and shirt number (#21, which he wore mainly as a professional).[7] The homage was again paid the following month - as Espanyol won its first match at new Estadi Cornellà-El Prat - against Málaga CF - by 2–1 scorer Iván Alonso, as Jarque's pregnant girlfriend was also giving birth to the couple's child.[8]
On 11 July 2010, during the FIFA World Cup final, close friend Andrés Iniesta celebrated his 116th minute-winning goal (the only one of the game) by removing his jersey to reveal an undershirt with the sentence "Dani Jarque siempre con nosotros" ("Dani Jarque, always with us").[9] Incidentally, after the match, two other Spanish players, Sergio Ramos and Jesús Navas, wore T-shirts with a similar tribute to another deceased compatriot, Antonio Puerta, who died at the age of 22, due to a cardiac arrest suffered during a match in August 2007.