South African junior international right-back Ntuthuko Radebe has been killed in a car accident, his Belgian top-flight club AS Eupen have confirmed.
Details of the accident have not been provided, bar that it happened while the 23-year-old was at home in South Africa.
“The team, the staff, supervisors, all employees and supporters of KAS Eupen lost a good friend. His kindness, his company, his loyalty, his commitment and good humour have earned him great respect. Ntuthuko Radebe will forever remain a family member of KAS Eupen,” the club said in a statement on their website on Tuesday.
The highly-rated Radebe had been thought of as a player with much promise, but his short career was blighted by injuries that limited his game time.
He played for South Africa’s Under-17 side, and was also in line for selection for the Under-23 team that represented South Africa at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro last year.
Radebe was one of a trio of South African players who were developed through the Aspire Academy in Qatar, and it was through that development facility’s links with Eupen that he moved to Belgium in 2012.
He spent five seasons with the team, helping them from the second-tier to the first, but made just two starts in the 2016/17 campaign.
