German-Ghanaian footballer Newton Opoku-Mensah, an U-17 player for Fortuna Düsseldorf, tragically lost his life in a swimming incident at the age of 16.
The club announced this devastating news on Wednesday, revealing that Opoku-Mensah had an accident while swimming in a lake in Duisburg on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, he passed away later in the hospital due to the incident.
The whole Fortuna Düsseldorf community is in shock and profound grief over the untimely loss of this young athlete. Klaus Allofs, the head of sports and communications at the club, expressed his disbelief, stating, “Newton was a young man who pursued his dream and has now departed too soon. We extend our condolences and deepest sympathy to Newton’s family and loved ones, as well as to all his teammates and the entire team in our NLZ.”
In light of this tragic event, all training and match operations for Fortuna’s youth teams from U9 to U19 have been temporarily suspended until further notice.
The first game of the season for Düsseldorf’s U17 team was originally set for August 11 against VfL Bochum.
