On Sunday afternoon in Porto Cervo, on Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda, Yael Trepy was pulled from the deep end of a villa swimming pool. By evening, the 20-year-old Cagliari forward was in a pharmacologically induced coma in intensive care at Sassari’s Santissima Annunziata Civil Hospital.
Trepy reportedly cannot swim and had strayed into the deeper part of the pool when others at the villa discovered him around 6pm local time. Italy’s 118 emergency service responded and he was airlifted by helicopter to Sassari.
A CT scan showed large quantities of fluid in both lungs, complicating oxygen exchange. Doctors intubated him and placed him in a medically induced coma under constant monitoring.
Cagliari confirmed the hospitalisation on Monday morning.
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“Yael Trepy is currently hospitalised at the Santissima Annunziata Civil Hospital in Sassari, where he is in intensive care,” the club said in a statement.
“The Club is in constant contact with the healthcare facility and the player’s family.”
The club asked for privacy and said further updates would follow when there was clinical news to share.
From Créteil-Lusitanos to a Serie A debut
Trepy grew up in the Paris suburbs at US Créteil-Lusitanos before moving to Italy in 2022 and working his way through Cagliari’s youth system. He made his Serie A debut in January 2025 and scored an equaliser against Cremonese later that season.
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Across the last campaign he made 24 appearances for Cagliari Primavera 1, scoring 11 goals, and he had begun the new season attached to the senior squad.
On Friday he started as a forward in Cagliari’s Coppa Italia first-round tie against Arezzo, playing 53 minutes before being substituted. Cagliari won 1-0 through an Alessandro Deiola penalty and were given a two-day break before returning to training.
The near-drowning happened during that break, at a private villa in Costa Smeralda, less than 48 hours after Trepy had walked off the pitch in Cagliari.
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