A body found in the Rhine near Düsseldorf has been confirmed as the former Wigan and Ivory Coast defender Steve Gohouri.
The 34-year-old had been unaccounted for since attending a Christmas party on 12 December with the German fourth-tier side TSV Steinbach, the club he was playing for this season.
Düsseldorf police confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Gohouri’s death.
A statement read: “On December 31 2015, the corpse of initially an unknown man was found in the Rhine near Krefeld. In the meantime, the dead man could be identified as the 34-year-old who had been reported missing on 12 December. An autopsy showed no evidence of violence by third parties.”
Gohouri, a defender who played for the Ivory Coast between 2006 and 2009, scored two goals in 42 games for Borussia Mönchengladbach between 2007 and 2009, helping the side to Bundesliga promotion in 2008. He also played for Wigan and the Swiss side Young Boys.
“This is terrible news,” Mönchengladbach sporting director Max Eberl said. “I got to know Steve as a person full of the joys of life and that’s how I’ll remember him. Our thoughts and sympathies are now with his family.”
The defender, a member of the Ivory Coast 2010 World Cup squad, joined Maccabi Tel Aviv in the summer of 2012, and also had a spell at Skoda Xanthi in Greece before looking to finish his playing career in Germany.
Wigan posted a message of condolence on the club’s Twitter feed, which read: “We are saddened to hear reports of our former defender Steve Gohouri passing away. Our thoughts are with his family.”
#RIP
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