Football World Mourns George Baldock’s Death

As police cars and an ambulance were dispatched to the scene, several Panathinaikos players gathered outside the building, and a coroner was called.

A first examination did not reveal signs of foul play, ERT said Thursday, adding that the player had been dead for about five hours when he was found. The home also showed no evidence of forced entry.

Baldock joined Panathinaikos in May after a seven-year spell with Sheffield United, relegated from the English Premier League to the Championship last season.

Of Greek origin through his father, he was called up by the Greek national team in 2022 by then-manager Gus Poyet.

He had 12 caps, but had not been selected for the team’s Nations League match against England at Wembley on Thursday because of injury, ERT said.

The Greek federation called Baldock “one of our own” and has requested that Greece’s players wear black armbands for the game.

Baldock had featured for Panathinaikos in a 0-0 draw with Olympiacos in a Greek Super League match on Sunday, where he played for 75 minutes.

Both the Greece team’s official website and his club’s social media sites on X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook, were blackened in tribute to the player.

Manchester United’s England international defender Harry Maguire, a former Sheffield United player, posted “RIP” and a heartbreak emoji alongside an image of Baldock on Instagram.

Sheffield United changed their homepage to a black and white photo of their former player with the words: “RIP George Baldock.”

“Sheffield United Football Club is shocked and extremely saddened to learn of the passing of former player, George Baldock,” said the club.

Northampton, where Baldock had a loan spell in 2011, wrote on X: “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former loanee George Baldock at the tragically young age of 31.”