Background: Football, commonly known as soccer, is one of the most popular sports in the world with millions of players and supporters. Sudden cardiac arrest/death(s) (SCA/SCD) are rare but traumatising incidents in sports, particularly in football. SCD are the leading cause of death in young athletes, and this raise concerns in football. Soccer is a physically demanding exercise. Athletes with an undiagnosed cardiovascular abnorm ality may be at a risk for SCA/SCD. Methodology: A literature search was done using Science direct, Oxford Academics, Sage Journals, Wiley Online Library, Taylor Francis Online, SpringerLink and PubMed using a combination of keywords and operators such as the Boolean search type to produce accurate results. Experimental studies, Observational Cross Sectional, Prospective and Exploratory Publications were included in our review if the articles focused on SCD/SCA in professional football leagues and studies conducted on professional football players in South Africa and European countries and articles written in English. Results: A total of 5 confederation with 123 cases (mean age 37 ± 17 years, 100% men) with SCA/SCD were reported; 67 EUFA players (54.5%), 17 AFC players (13.8%), 16 (13%) CSDF players, 19 CAF (15.4%) & 4 CONCACAF players (3.3%) cases. A diagnosis by autopsy or definite medical reports was established in 140 cases (58.3%). The leading cause in players >35 years was CAD (76%) and in players =35 years was (SCD, 22%). In players =35 years the leading cause of SCD varied by region (CPR) resulted in a survival rate of 85% with the use of an (AED) compared with 35% without. Conclusion: Education in SCD/SCA should be improved by national football registries. Immediate access to an AED at training and competition sites, as well as CPR training for players, coaches, and staff members, should be compulsory to improve survival from SCA/SCD. South Africa is currently on the rise with SCD/SCA, and our current study is focusing on the PSL & NFD risk profile data.
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