“Millwall Football Club is completely devastated to announce that Matija Sarkic has passed away at the age of 26,” the Championship club said in a statement. “Everyone at the club sends their love and condolences to Matija’s family and friends at this immensely sad time. The club will make no further comment at this time and asks that the privacy of Matija’s family is respected.”
The Grimsby-born Sarkic began his career in Anderlecht’s academy before joining Aston Villa in 2015. He had loan spells at Wigan, Stratford, Havant & Waterlooville and Livingston and moved to Wolves in 2020. He played 60 games during loan spells at Shrewsbury, Birmingham and Stoke before joining Millwall last August, where he made 33 appearances.
Sarkic made his Montenegro debut against Belarus in 2019 and was on international duty last week for a friendly against Belgium. The Montenegro FA said in a statement that Sarkic had died suddenly on Saturday morning.