Junior footballer Samuel Akwasi, 13, died after cardiac arrest on Nottingham pitch, inquest rules

A teenage footballer who collapsed during a football match is believed to have died from a "sudden cardiac death", according to an inquest.

Samuel Akwasi, who was 13-years-old, from Nottingham died at the Queen's Medical Centre on May 7 earlier this year.

The inquest, which opened today, heard a post-mortem examination revealed the provisional cause of death given by a pathologist was a "sudden cardiac death with a morphologically normal heart".

Senior Coroner for Nottinghamshire, Miss Mairin Casey, opened and adjourned the inquest into Samuel's death at Nottingham Council House.

She read, Samuel "was born on September 27, 2008, and sadly died on May 7th."

"He was just 13 years at the time of his death and he died at the Queen's Medical Centre."

Miss Casey then revealed the provisional cause for the junior footballer's death was a "sudden cardiac death."

The conclusion of the cause of death will be revealed in the final hearing of the inquest set to take place on March 22 next year and is estimated to take three days.

Two additional interim hearings are planned for December 7 and February 8.

How did Samuel Akwasi die?

Samuel was playing in the FC Cavaliers U13s football match against WBCY FC Rossoneri on May 7.

He had scored the first goal of the match before suddenly collapsing at the Forest Recreation Ground pitch.

It has been reported that Samuel collapsed near a tree on the pitch and medical help rushed over to help.

Dvarne Edwards, a sports assistant at the Forest Sports Zone, a separate sports facility at The Forest with artificial pitches, said he "ran over straight away" to help before an ambulance arrived minutes later.

The teenager was taken to the Queen's Medicial Centre in Nottingham. He died shortly after.

Tributes were paid to the junior footballer after his collapse during the match at the Forest Recreation Ground.

The 13-year-old's Dad Tubman Akwasi said he has to live with the pain of his son's death every day.

He said: "Life will never be the same without Samuel. He was very talented. He was a legend, our legend."

Mr Akwasi said Samuel's biggest dream was to become a footballer and play for Nottingham Forest.

After watching Nottingham Forest get promoted back to the Premier League at Wembley just a few weeks after Samuel's death, Mr Akwasi said he cried.

"He wanted to play for them one day. It is a tragedy that we are facing at the moment as a family. I am heartbroken."