Former Ghana forward Raphael Dwamena, 28, died on Saturday on the pitch while playing for a local team in Albania, the Albanian Football Federation said in a statement.

Dwamena was playing for Egnatia against Partizani. He lost consciousness and after doctors gave him first aid he was sent to hospital.

"Despite the immediate intervention of specialist doctors and all efforts to bring him back to life, the footballer unfortunately passed away," the federation said.

The federation has postponed all games scheduled in Albania this week.

Dwamena was diagnosed with a heart condition in 2017 and during a game in Austria in 2021 he collapsed on the pitch but was soon stabilised.

He reportedly had a heart operation and had an automatic defibrillator implanted.

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) said it sent "our deepest condolences to his family at this difficult moment".

"He served his country well and showed class anytime he represented Ghana," GFA president Kurt Edwin Simeon Okraku said in a statement.

Dwamena played for the Ghana national team, known as the Black Stars, nine times and scored two goals.

Written with inputs from Reuters