Ex-GC player Taipi experienced Dwamena drama on the field: “Both teams cried in the locker room”

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There is actually enormous euphoria in Albanian football. The national team only needs one point against Moldova and the Faroe Islands to advance to the 2024 European Championship. But now the death of ex-FCZ star Raphael Dwamena († 28) is shocking the country. National coach and ex-Barça star Sylvinho (49) also expressed his condolences on social media. Dwamena collapsed in the top match of the national competition on Saturday and later died.

‘All of Albania is mourning. The day after Rapha’s death, in addition to football, all other competitions such as basketball and handball were suspended,” says Gjelbrim Taipi (30). Blick reached the former player of Wil, St. Gallen, GC, Winterthur and Schaffhausen on Sunday evening. Taipi now plays for champion Partizani Tirana and was on the pitch against Dwamena’s KF Egnatia when the tragedy occurred.

“We hugged each other warmly before the match. 25 minutes later he collapsed. Many players went to him and protected him. The doctors from both teams and the ambulance arrived immediately,” Taipi said. “I had to keep some distance. I couldn’t bear to see the person who always laughed lying on the floor. It would have been bad on television. But experiencing everything so directly on the field is really difficult.”

“In Albania I offered him my help”

Taipi is probably the footballer in the league who knew Dwamena best. The Kosovan played in the Challenge League with Schaffhausen and in the Super League with St. Gallen and GC against FCZ with the Ghanaian. We met again last spring. Taipi: «I said to him: Man, you were at Levante, what are you doing here in Albania? But of course I knew his story with my heart. I said he could contact me at any time if he needed help finding his way in the new country.

Then it is a coincidence that the two ex-Super League players get to know each other deeply. During the last summer holidays, they and their wives were on the same holiday plane to Dubai. “I often think about that flight now,” says Taipi, “we talked for hours on the plane, but we hardly talked about football. He talked a lot about how much he had dedicated his life to God.”

After the news of his death, many players are crying

On the phone you can see Taipi struggling with the loss of his companion. “I couldn’t sleep all night.” The waiting time when the game was interrupted was especially bad. “Rapha was back to himself and talking when he was taken into the ambulance. So it was said that if he was safely in hospital, he could continue playing,” the midfielder said.

But then representatives of the association suddenly said that the situation around Dwamena was serious. “Shortly afterwards they announced that he had died en route. I could not believe it. The players from both teams were crying in the locker room,” Taipi says sadly.

Albania is in shock. With Dwamena, not only the captain of the first team and the top scorer has died. But a kind of figurehead for the entire competition. Many people in the football-mad country were excited to see a former La Liga player in his prime playing in their little league. Taipi: “He was extremely popular. When he scored his goals, even the opposition fans applauded.”

But on Saturday, Dwamena’s Albanian fairy tale ended in the worst possible way.

Source : Blick