According to the police, rescue workers were immediately on site and took the young player to the nearby university hospital. A police spokesman said on Sunday that the elementary school student unfortunately died from his serious injuries.

Child dies in Erlangen: investigations in full swing

While the investigation and the Search for the cause of the accident are in full swing, all planned junior games on Sunday in the Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund football district have been canceled by the Bavarian Football Association. “We are all deeply shocked and stunned. We are at a loss for words,” the association is said to have written in a circular to the affected clubs, according to media reports.

The club jersey with the number 12 flutters on the center line

The extent of the sadness becomes clear one day after the accident around the FSV Erlangen-Bruck sports grounds. Friends and acquaintances have placed numerous flowers, candles and cuddly toys between the lawn and the club restaurant. Where people usually cheer together, today the fine blue club jersey with the number 12 on the back flaps lonely in the wind at the center line. It may have been the shirt number of the boy who was killed.

Club: “We are all very shocked”

“We are all very shocked. After the incomprehensible event, the entire club is in deep mourning. Football is now an absolute secondary matter. Our thoughts are with his family, relatives, friends, teammates and coaches. With all our solidarity, we wish them a lot of strength to get through the incomprehensible. The club will do everything to support those involved,” reads a current statement from club board member Thomas Neudecker, which was published on the club’s homepage on Sunday afternoon.

According to police headquarters, the criminal police in the central Franconian university town are feverishly working on the cause of the accident. According to the police, it was not yet clear 24 hours after the terrible event why the mobile soccer goal tipped over and fell on the child. Numerous witnesses would still have to be interviewed in order to be able to reconstruct the exact course of the accident. At the request of the public prosecutor, an expert was brought in at an early stage to support the investigation. Due to the extensive police work, the first findings are not expected until the beginning of the week at the earliest, according to a spokesman.

The fact is that the club premises currently resemble a large construction site. With financial support from the federal government, the state and the city totaling around 4.5 million euros, the club says it is currently thoroughly sprucing up its grounds and is building an artificial turf pitch and three tennis courts including a modern floodlight system, as well as a new sports hall. The so-called “sports for all center” with a multi-purpose hall, restaurant and bowling alley is to be built on the tennis department’s premises.

However, the sports club’s new gem is still in the shell. A huge construction crane stands over the construction site, which is cordoned off with numerous fences. The club has not yet commented on the tragic accident. Neither the local politics – this Sunday the mayoral runoff election will take place in Erlangen between the incumbent Dr. Florian Janik (SPD) and challenger Jörg Volleth (CSU) – and Erlangen-based Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (also CSU) have so far publicly commented on the case.