CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Police said Monday they are investigating the death of South Africa World Cup soccer player Jayden Adams, after his body was discovered this weekend at a property in the city of Cape Town.
The 25-year-old Adams died two weeks after helping South Africa reach the knockout stage of a World Cup for the first time.
Authorities have not released a cause of death.
"Cape Town central police registered an inquest for investigation following the discovery of the body of a 25-year-old male on Saturday," police said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. “Circumstances surrounding this incident are under investigation.”
Police said the body was discovered at a property in the Cape Town neighborhood of Schotsche Kloof at around 11 a.m. on Saturday, but gave no more details.
Adams' father, Juanito Adams, told South African TV news station eNCA on Sunday that the family were waiting for the results of an autopsy and had not yet made any funeral plans.
“As you all know, it was an untimely death. The family is struggling to process it,” Juanito Adams said. “It won't be easy to carry on. People say it will become easier, but it won't. You just learn to live with it.”
Adams played in all three of South Africa's group games as it produced its best performance at the World Cup. He did not feature in the 1-0 loss to Canada in the round of 32 on June 28.
South Africa Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie said Adams had played in his team's group game against Czech Republic hours after learning that his grandmother had died. McKenzie asked the public and media to “exercise restraint and compassion” and not speculate on the cause of Adams' death while authorities conduct an investigation.
There were moments of silence and tributes for Adams at the England vs. Norway and Argentina vs. Switzerland World Cup quarterfinal games on Saturday.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Pickleball Read morePickleball
Dirk van Ulden said:
CA Is Burning said:
CA Is Burning said:
CA Is Burning said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.