{"id":462420,"date":"2026-02-08T20:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T20:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/462420\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T20:48:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T20:48:20","slug":"uk-based-nigerian-footballer-saburi-adeniji-dies-from-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/462420\/","title":{"rendered":"UK-based Nigerian footballer Saburi Adeniji dies from injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saburi Adeniji, a Nigerian footballer and left winger for Kings Park Rangers Football Club of Sudbury, at Great Cornard, Suffolk, England, has died after battling a severe brain stem injury.\n<\/p>\n

The football club is a non-league side competing in the Eastern Counties League Division One North.
\n\"\"Nigerian footballer Saburi Adeniji during his time at the club before his demise. Photo Credit: Facebook\/ Kings Park Rangers FC\n<\/p>\n

In a Saturday statement announcing his death, the club said Adeniji, popularly known as Ola, passed away on Friday morning, noting that he held on until after arrangements were made for his family to travel to the United Kingdom.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with great sadness that we must announce our number 17 Saburi Adeniji \u2018Ola\u2019 passed away yesterday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe fought so hard to still be here for when his family arrived. His wife and daughter, unfortunately, arrived this morning, a day late,\u201d the club said.
\n\"\"Nigerian footballer Saburi Adeniji during his time at the club before his demise. Photo Credit: Facebook\/ Kings Park Rangers FC\n<\/p>\n

The club described the late footballer as a devoted family man and a valued member of the team.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will always be a King. He will always be loved. As a friend, as a dad, as a husband, as a brother and as a son,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n

\"\"This photo shows Nigerian footballer Saburi Adeniji during his time at the club before his passing. Photo Credit: Facebook \/ Kings Park Rangers FC<\/p>\n

Adeniji\u2019s death comes weeks after Kings Park Rangers had appealed publicly for prayers and financial support following his admission into intensive care.\n<\/p>\n

On January 17, the club disclosed that the winger was bedridden, announcing that all matches would be put on hold to allow the team support him.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking everyone to pray for our left winger Saburi Adeniji (Ola). All Kings Park Rangers games will be on hold as we look to support him at his bedside until he is better,\u201d the club stated.\n<\/p>\n

As his condition worsened, the club endorsed a GoFundMe campaign created by Joshua Pollard to raise funds to bring his wife and young daughter from Nigeria to the UK.\n<\/p>\n

In a detailed statement published on the GoFundMe website, it was revealed that Adeniji was admitted into intensive care on January 15, 2026, at Queen\u2019s Hospital, Romford, East London, where doctors later confirmed the severity of his condition. <\/p>\n

\u201cSaburi was admitted to Intensive Care on 15 January 2026 and is under the care of the Critical Care Department at Queen\u2019s Hospital.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to his consultant in critical care, his condition has continued to deteriorate, and he is now considered to be imminently dying.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the severity of his injury, Saburi has been medically classified as brain dead,\u201d the club said.\n<\/p>\n

The statement explained that recent changes in UK medical law delayed the withdrawal of life support, pending further assessments, creating a narrow window for his family to travel.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hospital has compassionately allowed a short window of time to enable Saburi\u2019s family to travel to the UK so they may be with him before he passes naturally on life support or life support is withdrawn,\u201d it added.\n<\/p>\n

The fundraising campaign was launched to cover emergency visa processing, flights, accommodation and living expenses for his wife and daughter, who were based in Nigeria.\n<\/p>\n

Adeniji is survived by his wife and a four-year-old daughter.\n<\/p>\n

The club said beyond facilitating family reunification, funds raised would also support his wife and help secure his daughter\u2019s education and wellbeing.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSaburi leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter, whom he adored. He worked tirelessly to provide for his family and was deeply committed to giving his daughter a good education and a better future,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

Kings Park Rangers called on the football community to rally around the bereaved family, describing the loss as devastating.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a moment for the football world to come together \u2014 players, clubs, teammates, supporters and friends,\u201d the club said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saburi Adeniji, a Nigerian footballer and left winger for Kings Park Rangers Football Club of Sudbury, at Great…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[164800,49,48,188947,188948,188949,144045,188950,188951,188952,188953,188954,188955,561,82,88715,188956],"class_list":["post-462420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-brain-injury","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-eastern-counties-league","tag-football-tragedy","tag-footballer-death","tag-gofundme","tag-kings-park-rangers","tag-kings-park-rangers-fc","tag-nigerian-footballer","tag-ola-adeniji","tag-queens-hospital","tag-saburi-adeniji","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-suffolk","tag-uk-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}