Former France international defender Jean-Pierre Adams has died after spending thirty-nine years in a coma.

He was 78.

Adams was pronounced dead on Monday at the Nimes University Hospital.

The Senegal-born defender slipped into a coma when he was 34-years old in 1982 after an anaesthesia error during knee surgery at Lyon Hospital.

He failed to wake up after the operation and spent the rest of his life on life support.

Adams played 22 times for the France national team from 1972 to 1976 and made 41 appearances for Ligue 1 giants PSG.