Jesús de Miguel Alameda, the CD Tenerife striker whose career carried him from Spain’s lower divisions into professional football, died on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at 30.
Tenerife said he died at 8 a.m. local time, less than a day after a collision with FC Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono during their LaLiga Hypermotion match. The club also relayed his family’s request for privacy.
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The score was 2-2 in stoppage time when De Miguel chased a long pass near midfield and Owono came far outside his penalty area to challenge for the ball. The referee dismissed Owono and recorded that the goalkeeper had made contact with a raised leg and used excessive force.
Teammates and opponents urgently waved medical staff onto the field, again placing on-field emergency care in football at the center of the sport.
The following footage shows the collision and may be distressing.
View the footage from Diario AS on X
Medical staff treated De Miguel on the field before he was taken away by ambulance. He suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest, was resuscitated and was admitted to the intensive care unit at Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria.
Tenerife initially described him as stable but in serious condition, then announced overnight that his neurological condition had worsened.
The referee suspended the match in the 96th minute after the teams said they were not emotionally able to continue. Two minutes remained, and LaLiga still lists the 2-2 fixture as suspended. No final forensic cause of death has been announced.
Spain’s National Police opened an investigation that is now under judicial supervision. The Canary Islands High Court said such an inquiry is standard whenever a death is considered non-natural, including an apparent accident. Its existence does not establish that a crime occurred or that Owono bears criminal responsibility.
View CD Tenerife’s statement on X
The long route to Tenerife’s No. 9
De Miguel was 28 when Tenerife signed him. By then, the forward known as “Demi” had already spent a decade moving through the Spanish pyramid, with stops at Leganés B, Internacional de Madrid, Fuenlabrada, Unión Adarve, Navalcarnero, Unionistas de Salamanca and Castellón.
The Castellón spell changed the scale of his career. De Miguel scored 16 goals and supplied six assists in 38 matches during the club’s 2023-24 promotion season, finishing as the leading scorer in its Primera Federación group. Across two and a half seasons, he made 88 appearances for Castellón and scored 25 goals.
Tenerife gave him a three-year contract in July 2025, and another promotion followed. De Miguel scored 11 times last season as the club returned to the second tier.
He also set a Tenerife record with six goals in his first five league appearances, the best opening five-game total by one of the club’s players since it entered Spain’s national competitions in 1953.
The response spread quickly through Spanish and European football. The Spanish federation postponed Tuesday’s Copa del Rey and Copa de la Reina matches, while UEFA announced a moment of silence before every UEFA match this week.
Supporters’ groups called for a minute of silence at Gate 9 of the Heliodoro, matching the number De Miguel wore and the wider football tradition in which shirt numbers become memorial symbols. Tenerife’s island council declared Wednesday a day of official mourning.
A memorial Mass is scheduled at the Heliodoro on Saturday at 6 p.m. The club said De Miguel’s funeral will be held in Navahermosa, in Toledo province, after his body is transferred to the Spanish mainland.
De Miguel’s football story was built over a decade before that final match. He climbed Spain’s lower divisions, helped Castellón and Tenerife win promotion, and became a record-setting No. 9 on an island now preparing to honor him.
