A Chinese football fan has reportedly died after spending days awake watching the opening games of the World Cup in a marathon TV session.
The 25-year-old man from Suzhou, a city of eastern China, stayed up “for days” to watch the first games of the tournament, held in Brazil, but died from excessive lack of sleep after watching the Netherlands beat Spain 5-1.
Spain’s Mundo Deportivo says that he was found dead in front of his TV screen the morning after the match, which finished at 5am in China.
The man was taken to the People’s Hospital of Xiangcheng, where doctors declared that he had died due to lack of sleep, but did not specify whether his death was due to physical exhaustion or a heart attack.
The time difference between China and Brazil means that Chinese fans have to stay up all night to watch World Cup matches live, with most matches being played between midnight and 6am Chinese time. Doctors in the country have even issued specific warnings telling fans not to miss out on sleep due to the tournament.
This is not the first time that such a tragedy has occurred in China. During the 2010 and 2006 World Cups in Germany and South Africa, various stories emerged of fans suffering physical injuries, including deaths, after spending many nights awake watching matches.
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