A football player, whose death was faked by his former club, has said he has no hard feelings towards them.

Dublin football club Ballybrack FC is blaming a rogue member of its management team, for pretending Fernando La Fuente had been killed in a car crash in order to get a match postponed.

The club is facing disciplinary action.

In a statement, Ballybrack FC said the person responsible for the false claim made a "gross error of judgement" and has been relieved of all duties at the club.

The official contacted the Leinster Senior League without the club's knowledge in order to get a match against Arklow Town postponed.

Speaking to Jonathan Healy on the Pat Kenny Show, Mr La Fuente said: "I'm alive and kicking as the newspapers say.

"I actually found out I was dead yesterday around 8.00pm when I got a call from work.

"So basically our CEO was in San Francisco and he found this news... Luckily I was all day working.. so he knew I was OK.

"He just phoned me and told me 'You're all over the newspapers'... and that's how I found out".

Mr La Fuente added that he knew his teammates were planning a prank.

"I knew I was going to have an accident - but I thought I was going to break a leg or something or I was going to be in any kind of accident.

"So they told me 'If you see anything on Twitter, just to let you know we tried to get this match called off'".

But he said he has no hard feelings over the incident.

"It's serious depending on which side you are... I got an obituary, I was witness of my own death, I got people doing a minute silence - I find it funny, and I'm sorry but no one got harmed here".

"When I moved to Ireland they were the only support I had... and they were really great - they even picked me up in my own home when we went to the matches because I didn't have a car.

"And they've been really good with me - so no bad feelings for them".

 Mr LaFuente's employers in Ireland, Glofox, have also released a statement.

"Fernando LaFuente moved from Spain to Ireland in 2017 to join our engineering team in Dublin.

"In September this year, Fernando relocated to the west of Ireland to lead and help grow the mobile app development team in our new Galway office.

"Fernando is still employed by Glofox and still living in Galway.

"Fernando was completely unaware of the false statement made in relation to his association with Ballybrack Football Club.

"He only learned of the false statement over the past few days through social media.

"It has been an extremely anxious time for Fernando as he tries to speak to family members and friends before they hear the news through social and other media."

The Ballybrack FC statement reads: "This grave and unacceptable mistake was completely out of character and was made by a person who has been experiencing severe personal difficulties unbeknownst to any other members of the club.

"The club will continue to provide a duty of care to all parties and offer the support that may be needed at this time.

"This person had previously contributed greatly to the senior team within the club in recent years and to the wider footballing community across Dublin for decades.

"At this stage we can only offer our sincere apologies to the Leinster Senior League, our opponents Arklow Town FC and the host of clubs and football people who made contact with us or offered messages of support in recent days."

Additional reporting: Trevor Keegan