Stefano Borgonovo who died 10 years ago: ALS and the complaint of the widow, “No one investigates”

On 27 June 2013, the former striker of Fiorentina and Milan who won in the world Stefano Borgonovo died of ALS, a disease that affected many players. He was 49 years old. Chantal, his widow, never had any doubts about the causes of his death: «He died because he was a footballer. The disappearances of Vialli and Mihajlovic have reopened old wounds but nobody is interested in investigating».
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Gehrig’s disease, seems to affect football particularly hard. A 2008 study estimated the mortality of football players from ALS 11.5 times higher than those who do not play football. And one from 2020 carried out on 23,586 players who played in Serie A, B and C from 1959 to 2000 seems to highlight how midfielders are most at risk. And not only is there a greater likelihood of developing a neurodegenerative disease in the “population” players, but this seems to arrive about 20 years earlier than the average. Factors that don’t seem to affect, for example, cyclists or basketball players. We re-propose the names and faces of this spoon river of Italian footballers.