A body which was recovered from the River Rhine near Dusseldorf this afternoon has been confirmed as that of missing footballer Steve Gohouri.
The 34-year-old former Wigan defender had been missing since he was last seen at a Christmas party for his current fourth division German side TSV Steinbach. Afterwards he was set to visit family in Paris. However, he never arrived and his family filed a missing person’s report.
A statement from TSV Steinbach read: “TSV Steinbach football club mourns its player Steve Gohouri. It is this afternoon (Saturday) certain that Steve Gohouri has died at the age of 34 years. This was confirmed by the Dusseldorf Police to TSV Steinbach. All managers, players, coaches and assistants at TSV Steinbach are very concerned about the death of Steve Gohouri. Our thoughts in these difficult hours are with his family.”
Dusseldorf Police confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. “On December 31 2015, the corpse of initially an unknown man was found in the Rhine near Krefeld. In the meantime, the dead could be identified as the 34-year-old who had been reported missing on December 12 2015. An autopsy showed no evidence of violence by third parties.”