In Ecuador, football is a deadly sport, with players competing in the shadow of match-fixing mafias and under threat of an assassin's bullet.
Midfielder Jonathan González, 31, was relaxing at his home near the Colombian border this month when a hitman approached on a motorcycle and shot him in the head.
"Speedy," as he was known to teammates, had played for the Club 22 de Julio, a second division side from Esmeraldas, and was one of three Ecuadorean pros killed in the last month alone.
He was "a good kid who died because of betting," club employee Oswaldo Batallas told AFP.
González's
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