Stellenbosch FC mourn death of Jeandre Gaffoor ahead of Cup tie against Kaizer Chiefs

Grief-stricken Stellenbosch FC will have to put aside their emotions when they face Kaizer Chiefs in their Nedbank Cup tie at DHL Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Stellenbosch FC are mourning the death of Diski Challenge player Jeandre Gaffoor, who passed away on Sunday, 1 February.

Gaffoor is the second player the club has lost after 19-year-old defender Oshwin Andries was murdered three years ago.

Stellenbosch released a statement on Monday, stating their “profound sadness” at the “untimely passing of our talented reserve team player Jeandre Gaffoor”.

The club requested that the privacy of the deceased’s family and loved ones be honoured and that he would be “remembered fondly by his teammates, coaches, and staff, and his loss will be felt across the club and wider football fraternity.”

The 20-year-old joined Stellenbosch FC’s development ranks at the start of the 2024-25 campaign from Cape Town Spurs and featured prominently as the team achieved runners-up finish in the DStv Diski Challenge last season.

Gaffoor’s agency, Prosport International, announced the news in a statement shared on social media, saying it was ‘deeply saddened by the passing of Jeandre Gaffoor’, while his former club Spurs also paid tribute to the midfielder. 

“Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Jeandre Gaffoor. The Cape Town Spurs family mourns with you during this unimaginable loss. May cherished memories bring you comfort,” the statement read. 

Stellenbosch are fresh off two consecutive CAF Confederation Cup Group C defeats to Algerian side CR Belouizdad and are eager to build up some confidence under new coach Gavin Hunt.

Chiefs, meanwhile, are riding high after two back-to-back victories in the same competition. 

Hunt, though, feels the club is moving in a positive direction again after plenty of movement in recent times. 

 "It's a fantastic club, you know. People are really good, really professional, really supportive, and that's important,” Hunt said.

“And I think it's a club that's really good. It's done well in a short space of time, but we need to get back there, you know. Maybe, as I said, the league position's not good.

“We need to get back to where we are, where we know we can be, but obviously, we need to get players in and settled and try and go again.

“You all know that we've lost a lot of players, and it's happened to many, many times. So, we need to rebuild, and that's what it takes.

“It takes knowledge, it takes know-how, it takes patience, obviously, the result being the score, we go well, but if you look at the game from the outside and you understand football, I think you'll see that there's certainly a lot of big signs of improvement from last Sunday to this game in the future.”