John McKenna, 22, of Scotby FC, died after falling from a hotel balcony in Ibiza, Spain.
McKenna, who hails from Carlisle, Cumbria, in England, died following a fall on Friday morning at his three-star hotel in San Antonio, Spain.
Josh Dixon, a friend and former Carlisle United player, said he was heartbroken to have lost one of his closest friends, whom he had known for a long time.
He said, “Wherever you went, you would put a smile on someone’s face. Will be a huge miss to us all. Rest easy, big man.”
“A true gent and the most genuinely nice lad around, never a smile off his face, one of the best. Rest easy, big man,” another friend, Olly Doyle, said.
Announcing his death, Scotby FC tweeted, “Today we lost a legend, a brilliant player, but an even better person. Never forgotten, but loved always. RIP, big John.”
The police are not currently treating the incident as suspicious.