The club announced the devastating news on Wednesday, stating that Opoku-Mensah had an accident while swimming in a lake in Duisburg on Tuesday evening. He later died in the hospital as a result of the accident.

The entire Fortuna Düsseldorf community is in shock and deep mourning over the loss of the young athlete. Klaus Allofs, head of sports and communications at the club, expressed his disbelief, saying, “Newton was a young man who lived his dream and has now died far too early. Our condolences and deepest sympathy go out to Newton’s family and loved ones, as well as all of his teammates and the entire team in our NLZ.”

In light of the tragic event, training and match operations for all Fortuna youth teams from U9 to U19 have been suspended until further notice.

The first match of the season for Düsseldorf’s U17 team was scheduled for August 11 against VfL Bochum.