4 Chinese Football Fans Die Watching World Cup Matches

Support: Chinese football fans watch on during the World Cup opener between Brazil and Croatia in Xuchang. Doctors in the country are now warning fans not to stay up all night to watch matches

Four  football fan in China has died from what  that doctors believe was brought on them  staying awake for three successive nights to watch the World Cup.

Daily Mail Reports That Zhou Meng, a 39-year-old from Shanghai, collapsed on his sofa after suffering a stroke while watching the \Saturday night match between Uruguay and Costa Rica.

He had previously stayed up for the whole of Thursday and Friday night to watch live coverage of the tournament - which is being held in Brazil - while working during the daytime.



Mr Zhou collpased on the sofa in his living room while watching the match on Saturday. 

He was rushed to the Shanghai No. 10 People's Hospital after suffering a stroke and was pronounced dead several hours later.

On Saturday a 50-year-old man - who is said to have stayed up all night watching football - and four passengers in his vehicle died after colliding with a bus in a tunnel in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province.

Another 25-year-old man was found dead at his computer room at 7a.m on Saturday in the eastern city of Suzhou, Jiangsu province.

The official provincial news website reported that he died of suspected exhaustion after watching a World Cup group match between Chile and Australia.

Former professional footballer Li Mingqiang, 51, died from a heart attack in the north-eastern city of Shenyang on Saturday after watching the game between Spain and the Netherlands. The report said that Li’s friends called emergency services but they were unable to revive him.

 The 11-hour time difference between China and Brazil means 2014 FIFA World Cup matches are kicking off at unsociable hours for China's football fans.

Most group games start at midnight, 3am, 4am and 6am, leaving Chinese fans struggling to balance their football fix with their daily routine.

'I've been watching games every day for the past three days, mostly the 3am and 6am games,' said Liu Yitao, a 29-year-old officer worker.

Liu admitted that by yesterday he was feeling tired at work and now plans only to watch live coverage of group stage matches at weekends.

 And the cities Suzhou and Dalian have both also reported different cases of football fans dying while watching World Cup matches.