Lohoré Steve Ulrich Gohouri (8 February 1981 – 31 December 2015) was an Ivorian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a defender. Gohouri started his career in France, playing in the youth teams at CS Brétigny and

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

. Due to a lack of

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

opportunities, he had a brief spell in Israel with Bnei Yehuda before moving to Switzerland and joining

Yverdon-Sport Yverdon-Sport FC is a Swiss football club based in Yverdon-les-Bains that is set to compete in the Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football, after being relegated from the top-tier Swiss Super League in the 2024–25 season. The club ...

. He spent the next seven seasons in the Swiss leagues, later playing for

Vaduz Vaduz (; or ; High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' ...

, where he made his debut in a European competition, and Young Boys, where he won a runners-up medal in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

. In 2007, he signed for

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. He struggled to become a regular in the first team, and was eventually demoted to the reserves in 2009. He was released by the club at the end of the year, and signed for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

. He also represented

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

at international level, but only played sporadically since first appearing for his country in 2006. On 12 December 2015, Gohouri was reported missing, and he was found dead in the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

river almost three weeks later, on New Year's Eve (31 December).

Club career

Early career

Gohouri was born in

Treichville Treichville is a neighborhood in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is one of the 10 urban communes of the city. Treichville is one of four communes of Abidjan that are entirely south of Ébrié Lagoon, the others being Port-Bouët, Koumassi, and Marcory. ...

, Ivory Coast. At the age of five, he moved to France with his family, and grew up in the suburbs of Paris. He started his career with CS Brétigny, where he played in the same youth team as

Patrice Evra Patrice Latyr Evra (; born 15 May 1981) is a French former professional footballer. Originally a forward, he primarily played as a left-back. Evra served as captain for both Manchester United and the France national team. He was named in the P ...

. He then spent two years at

, but failed to break into the first-team. He signed for Israeli side Bnei Yehuda midway through the 1999–2000 season. He made his debut on 5 February 2000 against

Hapoel Haifa Hapoel Haifa Football Club (, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Haifa'') is an Israeli professional football club located in the city of Haifa. The club won one championship (1998–99) and 4 Israeli cups (1962–63, 1965–66 and 1973–74, 2 ...

, scoring the opening goal in a 1–1 draw. He scored two more goals in the next game – a 2–1 win against

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply Beitar (), is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tier in Israeli football ...

, and instantly became a fan favourite at the club. He finished the season with four goals in 13 appearances as the club avoided relegation from the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

with an 11th-place finish.

Switzerland

He left the club at the end of the season and joined

in Switzerland. He was initially signed by the club as a striker, scoring nine goals in his first season at the club as they were relegated from Nationalliga A. He has since played primarily as a central defender, but can also play at right-back or left-back. In January 2003, he moved to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

on loan for six months, but did not appear in

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

during the spell. He moved to

the following summer. In July 2004, he made his debut in European competition in a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

Preliminary Round tie against

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of I ...

. In September 2005 he signed for Young Boys, having agreed a four-year contract with the club.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Gohouri left Young Boys for

on a three-and-a-half-year contract on 28 December 2006 for a transfer fee of €1.5 million. He made his

debut on 27 January 2007 against

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the German reunification, reunificatio ...

. In September 2008, Borussia coach

Jos Luhukay Jos Luhukay (born 13 June 1963) is a Dutch football manager and former player, who was most recently head coach of VVV-Venlo. Playing career He began his career at the age of 15 at his hometown club FC VVV and he made his league debut in Janua ...

sent Gohouri to the reserve team after he failed to attend several appointments with the club's medical staff during an injury. He returned to the first team later that month, starting in a 1–0 defeat against

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

. In October 2008, he scored his first Bundesliga goal for the club, heading in the opening goal in a 2–2 draw against

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

. In summer 2009, he was again demoted to Borussia's reserves and was ultimately released in December 2009.

Wigan Athletic

On 12 January 2010, Gohouri joined

of the

, signing until the end of the season. He scored his first goal for Wigan on 3 May 2010 against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. The equalizer brought the game to 2–2 and relegated Hull, prompting a pitch invasion at the

DW Stadium The Brick Community Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Robin Park in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is used by Wigan Warriors rugby league club and Wigan Athletic F.C., Wigan Athletic association football, football club. The stadium is ...

. On 7 May 2010, Gohouri signed a new two-year contract with Wigan to extend his stay at the club until the end of the 2011–12 campaign. During the 2010–11 season, he made 28 appearances in all competitions, including a goal Gohouri scored against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in a 1–1 draw on 12 February and was rewarded with another contract extension, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2013. Unfortunately the 2011–12 season started badly for Gohouri, getting sent off against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

after picking up a second yellow card during a match on 24 September as well as falling down to the pecking order, making just 10 league appearances. Subsequently, Gohouri was released by Wigan when his contract expired at the end of the 2011–12 season.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

At the beginning of the 2012/13 season, Gohouri returned to Israel when he joined the ranks of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the first season of Jordy Cruyff as the professional manager. Gohouri participates in 10 league games in which he played as defender. He was released from the team mid-season.

Skoda Xanthi

On 29 June 2013, Gohouri joined Skoda Xanthi F.C. in the Greek Superleague. He made his debut in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

against Linfield, and made a further two appearances in the league before leaving the club in September 2013.

Return to Germany

In October 2014, Gohouri signed a contract with German

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

side

FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Erfurt, Thuringia. History Foundation to World War II The club has roots that go back to a cricket club founded in 1895. As they broadened their interests t ...

until the end of the year. The club extended his contract for a further six months in December 2014. On 3 December 2015, he signed a one-year contract with

TSV Steinbach TSV Steinbach Haiger is a German Association football, association football club based in Steinbach, near Haiger, Hesse. The club's greatest success has been to earn promotion to the German football league system, tier four Regionalliga Südwest ...

in the

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

International career

Gohouri made his debut for the Ivory Coast national team in August 2006 against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. In March 2007, he scored his first two goals for the team in a friendly against

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

. He also played in the 2008 African Cup of Nations qualifier against

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

, scoring the opening goal in the 3–0 victory.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first.''

Disappearance and death

On 12 December 2015, Gohouri was declared missing after his family filed a missing person's report. He was last seen at

's Christmas party, and was expected to visit his family in Paris, but never arrived. On 2 January 2016, German police confirmed that Gohouri had been found dead on New Year's Eve in the river

near

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

. He had

drowned Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gohouri, Steve 1981 births Footballers from Abidjan 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2010s missing person cases 2015 deaths Missing person cases in Germany Deaths by drowning in Germany Men's association football defenders Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Liechtenstein Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players FC Vaduz players Formerly missing people French sportspeople of Ivorian descent Ivorian emigrants to France Israeli Premier League players Ivory Coast men's international footballers Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in England Ivorian men's footballers Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. players Bologna FC 1909 players Borussia Mönchengladbach players BSC Young Boys players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Paris Saint-Germain FC players Premier League players Swiss Super League players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Xanthi F.C. players Yverdon-Sport FC players Borussia Mönchengladbach II players Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Liechtenstein Association football players with retired numbers 21st-century Ivorian sportsmen