Kenzo Kies, a 21-year-old footballer from Ligue 2 team En Avant Guingamp, died on Wednesday after drowning in the Rhône river near Lyon. He and three friends were rescued from the river on Monday, in a swimming area. Three were in stable conditions but Kies drowned, and when he was pulled from the water he was in brain death, later dying in the hospital.
The four friends decided to swim during France's heat wave, with temperatures rising to 38C in Lyon. Since the heatwave started, 40 people have lost their lives drowning in rivers, canals and reservoirs since the heat wave started last Thursday, said Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
Kies played for Guingamp, a Ligue 2 team in France's Brittany region. He was born in Lyon in 2005, playing for the Olympique Lyonnais youth academy, AS Saint-Priest and more recently AS Saint-Étienne U-14 level between 2018 and 2025. Saint-Étienne described him as "a talented player and discreet young man appreciated by all". The team will pay tribute to Kies at their Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium at the start of next season.
