LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — The Gabones Football Federation announced Wednesday that men’s national team striker Aaron Bupenza died after falling from the 11th floor of a Chinese building.
A federation statement posted on Social Network X did not release any further details about when the alleged incident occurred.
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Boupendza, 28, is playing for Zheijang FC in the Chinese Super League this year. Zhijiang issued a statement that Boupendza had passed away at his home.
“Now, the club is fully working with the relevant departments to carry out the investigation,” the statement added.
Former FC Cincinnati forward Aaron Bupenza will be taking part in a training session on February 21, 2025 in Hangzhou, Z Jiang Province, China. Boupendza is playing for Zheijang FC in the Chinese Super League this year. (via Guo Tianqi/China News Service/VCG Getty Images)
“The Gabon Federation will be remembered as the great striker who marked him at the African Cup in Cameroon in 2022.”
“The (Gabone’s Football Federation) and the broader Gabone’s soccer family express their sincerely saddening dol to his biological family during this difficult time,” the federation said.
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Bordeaux, a French team that Boupendza played early in his career, posted in X that he had died “tragically”.
“All our thoughts reach his family, his loved ones, his whole football family,” Bordeaux said.
On April 17, 2025, a portrait of Gabonese soccer player Aaron Boupendza lies outside the Zhijiang FC building in Hangzhou, Z Jiang Province, China. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
After playing for the lower tier of French football at the Bordeaux reserve side, Poe, Gazellec Ajaccio and Tour, Bupenza’s groundbreaking season met Hatarspoll on Turkey’s top flight when he scored 22 goals in the 2020-21 season. Hataspor also expressed sadness in X’s post.
The following season he moved to Qatar Club Al Arabi, then to Al Shabaab, based in Riyadh, the Saudi Professional League. His career then took him to major league soccer with FC Cincinnati and Rapid Bucharest before joining Zhijiang. He had scored four league goals in six games.
“Our hearts are directed at his family, friends and loved ones,” FC Cincinnati told social media.
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