{"id":800164,"date":"2026-07-14T00:02:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T00:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/800164\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T00:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T00:02:27","slug":"police-in-south-africa-open-probe-into-post-world-cup-death-of-jayden-adams-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/800164\/","title":{"rendered":"Police in South Africa open probe into post-World Cup death of Jayden Adams | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

The country\u2019s football players\u2019 union confirmed Adams\u2019s death on Saturday, but the cause has not been revealed.<\/p>\n

Published On 13 Jul 202613 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

Police in Cape Town, South Africa, have opened an investigation into the death of football player Jayden Adams, whose body was found shortly after he returned from North America, where he played in the FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n

A 25-year-old midfielder on South Africa\u2019s national team, Adams was found dead<\/a> at a home in the Schotsche Kloof neighbourhood of Cape Town. The South African Football Players Union confirmed his death on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The cause of death has not been revealed.<\/p>\n

Adams started two of the three World Cup matches he appeared in for South Africa, despite the death of his grandmother, Marianna, one day before the 1-1 draw<\/a> with the Czech Republic. He started in that match, as well as the game in which South Africa lost 2-0<\/a>\u00a0to Mexico. He was a substitute in a 1-0 win over South Korea.<\/p>\n

He was an unused substitute when South Africa was knocked out of the tournament by Canada on June 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family is struggling to process it. It won\u2019t be easy to carry on,\u201d the player\u2019s father, Juanito Adams, said on Sunday, according to South Africa news service eNCA.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say it will become easier, but it won\u2019t. You just learn to live with it. So, we\u2019ll see what the time ahead holds for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole world is reacting to Jayden\u2019s death. Like I said, it\u2019s very tough. We can see the love the world had for his soccer and for Jayden.\u201d<\/p>\n

A moment of silence was held for Adams before the quarterfinal match between England and Norway on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"MIAMIPlayers take a moment of silence for Jayden Adams before the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarterfinal match between Norway and England at Miami Stadium on July 11, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Florida [Justin Setterfield\/Getty Images\/AFP]<\/p>\n

\u201cI shall carry forever the humble, appreciative response he gave me,\u201d South Africa minister of sports, arts and culture, Gayton McKenzie, said in a statement, referencing Adams\u2019s decision to play so soon after his grandmother\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat he chose to wear the national jersey and give his all for his country in that moment speaks to a depth of character and professionalism well beyond his years, and it reflects the calibre of young man South Africa has lost.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The country\u2019s football players\u2019 union confirmed Adams\u2019s death on Saturday, but the cause has not been revealed. Published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[5684,49,48,527,6975,561,5685,457,82,1690,13010],"class_list":["post-800164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-africa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-football","tag-police","tag-soccer","tag-south-africa","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-us-canada","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800164","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=800164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}