A murdered teenager is being added to FIFA 21 to raise awareness of knife crime
Promising footballer Kiyan Prince is being added to the game to mark 15 years since his death
A teenager who was murdered 15 years ago is being added to FIFA 21 to raise players’ awareness of the impact of knife crime.
15-year-old Kiyan Prince was stabbed in the chest outside his school as he tried to break up a fight in 2006, and died as a result.
Kiyan was an academy player at Queen’s Park Rangers and was said to be a hot prospect for the future.
To mark the 15th anniversary of this death, QPR have officially signed Kiyan again and given him the squad number 30, to mark how old he would be now if he was still alive, Reuters reports.
He is also being added to the QPR squad in FIFA 21, with the game’s development team working with his family to create an image of what he would look like today, aged 30.
“I broke down when I saw Kiyan’s in-game character for the first time”, said his father Dr Mark Prince, who established the Kiyan Prince Foundation to educate young people about knife crime.
“Through this campaign my hope is that the world finally gets to glimpse Kiyan’s incredible potential fulfilled. We get to honour his talent and, hopefully, we can inspire other kids to honour their own talent too.
“Kiyan’s life was an awesome one, always blessing, always working hard and being dedicated which is why other young people should know this young man. He deserves to be in the game.”
The hope is that if players discover Kiyan in the game then realise what happened to him, they may realise that without knife crime Kiyan may have been a real, living player today, rather than just a virtual one.
“Most of these guys, this generation, they play FIFA, they will see Kiyan and if that can change just one of their mindsets then it will be a benefit,” said QPR Director of Football Les Ferdinand.
