Soccer fans in China were outraged by Zhejiang FC’s decision to go ahead with a Super League match hours after the death of their Gabon international Aaron Boupendza, the former FC Cincinnati striker.
Police have ruled out foul play in the death of the 28-year-old, who died after falling from the 11th floor of a building in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Wednesday afternoon.
Boupendza’s Hangzhou-based club went ahead with a home Chinese Super League fixture later on Wednesday against Meizhou Hakka, sparking grief and anger 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 somber atmosphere with none of the club’s other foreign players taking the field.
Fans chanted Boupendza’s name, held up his shirt and lit up phone torches and after the final whistle Zhejiang’s players and staff approached fans in an act of collective mourning.
Zhejiang’s emotional captain Cheng Jin struggled to answer questions before cutting short his post-match TV interview.
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