Hours after the death of their Gabon international striker, Aaron Boupendza, Zhejiang FC decided to play a league match, which infuriated football fans in China.
The 28-year-old died Wednesday afternoon after falling from the 11th floor of a building in the eastern city of Hangzhou, although police have ruled out foul play.
Boupendza’s Hangzhou-based club pushed on with a home Chinese Super League fixture later on Wednesday against Meizhou Hakka, triggering anguish and outrage from fans.
“Shouldn’t this match have been postponed?” one user wrote on the X-like social media platform Weibo.
“Why didn’t they postpone the match? The Chinese Super League is really very amateur,” another posted on WeChat.
The match, which ended 2-2, was played in a sombre atmosphere, with none of the club’s other foreign players taking the field.
Supporters held up Boupendza’s shirt, lit phone torches, and sang his name. In a show of collective grief, Zhejiang’s players and staff went up to the supporters after the final whistle.
Zhejiang’s emotional captain, Cheng Jin, struggled to answer questions before cutting short his post-match TV interview.
“I’m sorry, it’s not that I don’t respect you. I don’t have anything I really want to say,” he said.
Zhejiang’s Spanish head coach, Raul Caneda Perez, said that there was “nothing to say about the game” at his post-match press conference.
“Today is not for talking about football,” he said, through an interpreter.
“Football should not be discussed in this context.”
Hangzhou police confirmed Boupendza’s death and said they had been called to an incident at 1:14 pm on Wednesday.
Police said they “ruled out a criminal case” after investigations, which included conducting interviews and reviewing video footage.
The police further stated that although Boupendza was taken to the hospital, attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Zhejiang FC released a statement on Boupendza’s death after the match and said they were “fully cooperating with the relevant authorities to carry out the investigation”.
“All the club’s staff send their deepest condolences to his family,” the club said.
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) said in a statement on Thursday that it was “deeply saddened by (Boupendza’s) unfortunate passing” and sent “sincere condolences to his family and friends”.
“Foreign footballers are an important part of the development of Chinese professional football. We will give further care to the physical and mental health of all football players,” the CFA said.
Gabon’s national football association, which announced Boupendza’s death on Wednesday in a statement on X, said: “Aged 28, Boupendza leaves us with the memory of a great striker.”
Gabonese president-elect, Brice Oligui Nguema, also took to X to offer his condolences.
