A taxi driver was electrocuted when he was retrieving a ball while playing five-a-side football.
A jury has returned a verdict of accidental death following the tragedy, which claimed the life of Albert Xhediku, 34.
He had gone to fetch the ball after it had gone out of play at the Mountbatten Leisure Centre in Portsmouth, Hampshire, on January 17 2016.
But on the way back, he touched a floodlight lamppost and received a fatal shock, the Portsmouth inquest heard.
Coroner Lincoln Brookes told the seven-day hearing: "Albert was electrocuted whilst playing five-a-side football with his friends at Mountbatten Leisure Centre.
"The ball went out of the pitch. It was his turn to fetch the ball.
"On his return it seems he touched a floodlight and its lamppost, and in doing so he received a fatal shock from that floodlight, and despite the best efforts of his friends and indeed emergency services he was confirmed dead at Queen Alexandra Hospital later that evening."
Mr Brookes also told the inquest that the lighting control box was "seemingly in a poor state of affairs" in November 2015 and had not been inspected "recently prior to the accident".
Off-duty police officer Simon Tam told the hearing that he received a "nasty electric shock" from the floodlight on December 1 2015, which left him feeling unwell for several weeks.
The inquest has heard that repairs have since been carried out at the centre which was run at the time by Parkwood Community Leisure on behalf of Portsmouth City Council, but which is now under new management.
Mr Xhediku's family said in a statement: "Albert was a guy who did everything with all his heart.
"Even when he was just playing football with his friends, he played like it was the championships.
"He was our big brother and a loving son."
