A routine journey home from a football match turned fatal for a young Ghanaian player on Sunday, when gunmen ambushed a Premier League club’s team bus on a remote road, killing a 20-year-old winger in a brazen attack that has sent shockwaves through the country’s football community.
Dominic Frimpong, a winger for Berekum Chelsea, lost his life when a group of armed robbers intercepted the club’s bus on the Goaso–Bibiani road as it made its way back from an away fixture against Samartex in Samreboi, in the south of Ghana. It was a trip that should have been unremarkable — just another long drive home after a league game. Instead, it ended in tragedy.
The club described the harrowing sequence of events in a statement released on Monday. “On our way back to Berekum from Samreboi our team bus was attacked by a group of armed robbers who blocked the road to prevent our passage,” it read. “Masked men wielding guns and assault rifles started shooting at our bus as the driver tried to reverse. The players and staff fled into nearby bushes to take cover.” It remains unclear precisely how Frimpong was struck, but he did not survive.
The Ghana Football Association confirmed the player’s death, expressing devastation at the loss of one of the league’s emerging talents. “The GFA has received with profound shock and deep sorrow the tragic news of the passing of Dominic Frimpong of Berekum Chelsea Football Club,” the association said. “This tragic incident is not only a huge loss to Berekum Chelsea but also to Ghana football as a whole. Dominic was a promising young talent whose dedication and passion for the game embodied the spirit of our league.”
The GFA also pledged to overhaul security arrangements for clubs travelling to and from domestic fixtures — an acknowledgment that the dangers facing teams on Ghana’s roads have not been adequately addressed. That point is reinforced by the fact that this is not the first such attack. In 2023, the bus carrying Legon Cities was similarly ambushed after a match at Samartex, though on that occasion all occupants fortunately escaped without injury. The recurrence of violence on the same stretch of road raises urgent questions about the safety of players and officials travelling through the region.
Frimpong was just 20 years old. His death has prompted an outpouring of grief from across the Ghanaian football community, with tributes highlighting not only his potential as a player but the broader human cost of the insecurity that continues to plague road travel in parts of the country. Authorities have yet to announce any arrests in connection with the attack.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah