{"id":795531,"date":"2026-07-11T18:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T18:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/795531\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T18:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T18:29:12","slug":"south-african-soccer-player-who-competed-in-the-world-cup-dies-at-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/795531\/","title":{"rendered":"South African soccer player who competed in the World Cup dies at 25"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa midfielder Jayden Adams, who played at the 2026 World Cup<\/a>, has died. He was 25.<\/p>\n

His death was confirmed by Gayton McKenzie, South Africa’s minister of sport, arts and culture, in a statement on Saturday.<\/p>\n

“It is with profound shock and a heavy heart that I have learnt of the passing of Jayden Adams, midfielder for Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana Bafana, at the age of 25,” McKenzie posted on X.<\/p>\n

“South African football has lost one of its brightest young talents, and our nation mourns alongside his family, his team-mates and the millions of supporters.”<\/p>\n

Adams helped South Africa reach the World Cup knockout stage<\/a>\u00a0for the first time. He was featured in all three of South Africa’s group stage matches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team had never advanced to the knockout phase of a World Cup \u2014 even as the host nation in 2010. Fans didn’t have much hope after South Africa lost its opening match to Mexico 2-0. But a draw in the game against the Czech Republic placed the South Africa team in the running.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adams started South Africa’s first Group A game against the Czech Republic and was substituted at halftime. McKenzie said he played that game only hours after learning that his grandmother had died.<\/p>\n

Adams then played in the game against South Korea<\/a>, in which South Africa scored a goal to advance to the knockout rounds before losing to Canada.<\/p>\n

“It’s so incredibly sad to hear that South Africa midfielder Jayden Adams has passed away just weeks after featuring in his nation’s historic FIFA World Cup campaign,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said<\/a> in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SOCCER:<\/p>\n

Jayden Adams takes a shot during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group A match between Czechia and South Africa on June 18th, 2026 at Atlanta Stadium in Atlanta, GA.<\/p>\n

Rich von Biberstein\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Further details of his death were not given. McKenzie asked the public and the media to “exercise restraint and compassion, and to refrain from speculation.”<\/p>\n

Adams played several seasons for Stellenbosch before joining Mamelodi Sundowns last year. He helped the club win the CAF (African) Champions League this year.<\/p>\n

“Death has cruelly stolen one of our own. It has robbed our nation of a remarkable footballer,” the South African Football Players Union posted<\/a>\u00a0on X. “We will forever remember his humility, his extraordinary talent and the pride with which he represented South Africa. Rest in eternal peace, Jayden. You will never be forgotten.”<\/p>\n

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and the South African Federation of Trade Unions also expressed their condolences.<\/p>\n

\n Go deeper with The Free Press\n <\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Africa midfielder Jayden Adams, who played at the 2026 World Cup, has died. He was 25. His…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82,13009],"class_list":["post-795531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795531","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=795531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}