Quévin Castro: West Bromwich Albion Mourns Former Midfielder
West Bromwich Albion is in mourning after former midfielder Quévin Castro died on Saturday, collapsing on the pitch during a pre-season friendly in Portugal.
The 25-year-old was playing for Real Sport Clube, a lower-division side, in a match against Estrela da Amadora on August 22 when he suddenly went down. The Lisbon Football Association and Real Sport Clube later confirmed on social media that he had died.
At 25, a footballer is supposed to be building a career, not being remembered. The shock has rippled from Lisbon back to the Black Country.
"We are devastated to learn of the untimely passing of our former player Quevin Castro," West Brom said in a statement, posted alongside a picture of the midfielder lifting the Premier League Cup trophy with the club’s U23s.
Born in Portugal, Castro’s senior breakthrough at Albion came in 2021. He made his first-team debut in a Carabao Cup tie against Arsenal and went on to feature in the Sky Bet Championship the following year against Swansea City. His standout moment in Albion colours arrived in the U23 Premier League Cup final, when he scored in a dramatic win over Wolverhampton Wanderers that was eventually settled by a penalty shootout.
His journey was already a winding one. After leaving West Brom, Castro moved through a series of English clubs — Burton, Notts County, Gateshead, York City, King’s Lynn, Chippenham, Cambridge City and Eastbourne — before returning to his homeland this summer to sign for Real Sport Clube.
The news of his death cast a shadow over The Hawthorns on Sunday. West Brom, relegated from the Premier League in 2021 and now firmly focused on Championship matters, paused that routine grind to remember one of their own during the home game against Burnley on August 23.
Players wore black armbands. In the 25th minute, the stadium rose in a “celebration of life” as supporters applauded to mark Castro’s age. It was a simple tribute, but it cut through the usual noise of a league fixture.
On the club’s website, Albion added: "The thoughts of everyone at Albion are with Quevin’s loved ones at this desperately sad time."
No cause of death has been made public.
A career that had already spanned countries, cups and countless dressing rooms has been stopped in an instant, leaving one stark, lingering question: how does football begin to process a loss like this at just 25?
