German football club Borussia Mönchengladbach is mourning the death of under-23 player Jordi Bongard.
The 20-year-old Bongard, who signed a professional contract with Gladbach last July, died in a serious traffic accident on Wednesday night, the club said.
“We received this terrible news this morning and are stunned,” the club’s sporting director, Roland Virkus, said in a statement. “Our deepest sympathy and our thoughts are with Jordi’s family.”
In light of the defender’s death, Gladbach also announced that training sessions for the first team and under-23s scheduled for Thursday would be canceled, as well as the press conference ahead of the Bundesliga game against Wolfsburg.
“This truly hurts. We extend our sincerest condolences [to] Jordi’s family, friends and everyone at Gladbach,” Wolfsburg, one of a number of Bundesliga clubs to pay tribute to Bongard, wrote on Twitter.
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Bongard had played for Gladbach since 2013, progressing through the youth ranks before signing his professional contract last year.