Ecuadorian soccer player Mario Pineida shot dead in apparent attack, police say | OneFootball

Mario Pineida, a 33-year-old Barcelona de Guayaquil defender, was shot dead in an apparent attack, Ecuadorian police said on Wednesday, as violence escalates in the Andean nation.

Another person who police did not identify was also killed in the incident, while a third person was wounded.

Ecuador's Interior Ministry confirmed Pineida's death, but did not provide further details. Barcelona de Guayaquil said in a statement its fans are saddened by Pineida's death.

Pineida started his professional career at Independiente del Valle, where he played for five years from 2010 to 2015. He then moved to the club of the coastal city of Guayaquil in 2016 and won two league titles there. The defender also had a brief spell at Brazil’s Fluminense in 2022.

Pineida also earned nine international caps for Ecuador. He made his debut in a friendly against USA in 2014, while his final international appearance came in the 2021 Copa America against Brazil. Pineida was an unused substitite when Ecuador were knocked out by eventual champions Argentina in the quarter-finals.

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Ecuador's Mario Pineida, center, and Colombia's Abel Aguilar battle for the ball during their 2018 World Cup qualifying soccer match at the Atahualpa Olympic Stadium in Quito, Ecuador, March 28, 2017. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File) (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Ecuadorian media reported the incident took place in the region of Samanes in the north end of Guayaquil, which lies 265 kilometers (165 miles) southwest of the capital Quito.

Ecuador is expected to have its most violent year on record with more than 9,000 homicides, according to the Ecuadorian Observatory of Organized Crime. That figure was at 7,063 violent deaths last year and a then-record 8,248 in 2023.

President Daniel Noboa has pledged to fight criminal organizations that have expanded their operations in Ecuadorian territory in connection with international drug cartels.

In November, a 16-year-old footballer of Independiente del Valle died from a stray bullet, also in Guayaquil. Two months earlier, Maicol Valencia and Leandro Yépez, both players of Exapromo Costa, and Jonathan González, of 22 de Junio died from gunshot wounds.