Article by Maria Olteanu – Published on Thursday, 18 December 2025, 13:43 / Updated on Thursday, 18 December 2025 13:44
Ecuadorian police have confirmed that Mario Pineida, the 33-year-old Barcelona de Guayaquil defender and national team player, has been fatally shot in an attack, the result of escalating violence in the South American country. The information was transmitted by ESPN television.
Another person died in the incident, whose identity was not made public by the police, and a third person was injured. Mario Pineida had qualified for the 2026 World Cup with Ecuador and was due to play in Group E this summer, along with Germany, Ivory Coast and Curacao.
Ecuador's Interior Ministry confirmed Pineida's death without providing further details. Club Barcelona de Guayaquil said in a statement that fans are saddened by Pineida's sudden death.
The Ecuador international was shot dead
Pineida began his professional career at Independiente del Valle, where he played between 2010 and 2015. In 2016, he moved to the club from the coastal city of Guayaquil, with whom he won two league titles, according to sport.aktuality.sk.
Mario Pineida // photo: Imago
In 2022, this defender also briefly played for the Brazilian team Fluminense. He played 9 matches for the national team, the last time in 2021, and has been a member of the extended squad since then.
According to Ecuadorian media, the incident took place in the Samanes area, in the north of the city of Guayaquil, located 265 kilometers southwest of the capital Quito.
Ecuador is expected to record its most violent year on record, with more than 9,000 murders, according to the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory. Last year there were 7,063 violent deaths, and in 2023 a record 8,248.
President Daniel Noboa has pledged to fight against criminal organizations that, in collaboration with international drug cartels, have expanded their operations on Ecuadorian territory.
In November, a 16-year-old soccer player from the Independiente del Valle club died in Guayaquil after being hit by a stray bullet. Two months earlier, Maicol Valencia and Leandro Yépez, both players from Exapromo Costa, and Jonathan González from the 22 de Junio club, lost their lives to gunshot wounds.
