Saburi Olayinka Adeniji, a Nigerian footballer who lived in the UK, died after getting a serious brain injury. The non-league football scene in England is now in grief.
The winger, who played for the Kings Park Rangers Football Club in Essex, died in the hospital on Friday.
Adeniji passed away at Queen’s Hospital just one day before his wife and four-year-old daughter flew in from Nigeria to meet him.
He had been on life support in the Critical Care Unit since January 15, when he was admitted with a serious brain stem damage. Doctors had been putting off taking him off life support in the hopes that his family would arrive in time.
The club acknowledged his death in a sad statement that said, “It is with great sadness that we must announce our number 17 Saburi Adeniji ‘Ola’ passed away yesterday morning.”
It went on to say, “He fought so hard to stay alive until his family got there.” Sadly, his wife and daughter got here this morning, a day late.
Kings Park Rangers and the rest of the football community came together to support Adeniji and his family. They stopped charging people to get into games, held a minute of silence, and set up ways to raise money.
A public campaign has generated more than £16,000 to help his wife and daughter with travel, housing, and long-term care. The petition described him as a caring father who was motivated to provide his child a better future.
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