Chile's 'Transplant' Footballers Champion Organ Donation

With his team's 5-1 win over Spain, Hector Sanchez could truly say he was an international football champion -- though not in the way he dreamed of as a child

With his team's 5-1 win over Spain, Hector Sanchez could truly say he was an international football champion -- though not in the way he dreamed of as a child. Diagnosed with a liver disease in his youth, the Chilean automobile salesman had long had doctors urging him not to take to the field. Then, two liver transplant operations later and with a squad of 20 other organ donor recipients, Sanchez was victorious at September's Transplant Football World Cup.

"If it weren't for the transplant, I might not be here," he told AFP after a recent charity match in the Chilean capital Santiago.

It is an opportunity he wants to extend to others. And while the Chilean squad was victorious at the World Cup, the situation at home is tough for others in their position. 

Organ donation rates lag despite progressive legislation on the issue.

For Sanchez, 31, promoting organ donation through sports is the way to pay forward his "second chance at life."