"Masked men wielding guns and assault rifles started shooting at our bus." That's not a scene from a film. That's how Berekum Chelsea described Sunday's attack on their team bus — one that left 20-year-old winger Dominic Frimpong dead.
The club was returning from a Ghana Premier League fixture against Samartex in Samreboi when the armed group struck. The driver tried to reverse. The shooting started. Players and staff scattered into nearby bushes to survive.
One other player was badly injured and is currently receiving medical treatment at a hospital in the area. The full picture of what happened in those moments is still emerging.
A league in mourning
The Ghana Football Association confirmed Frimpong's death and didn't soften the language. "This tragic incident is not only a huge loss to Berekum Chelsea but also to Ghana football as a whole," the GFA said in a statement. "Dominic was a promising young talent whose dedication and passion for the game embodied the spirit of our league."
He was 20 years old.
The GFA has pledged to strengthen security arrangements for clubs traveling to domestic fixtures — a response that feels both necessary and overdue. This isn't the first time a Premier League club has been targeted. In 2023, Legon Cities' bus was also attacked by suspected armed robbers, though that incident ended without injuries.
What this means for the league going forward
The GFA now faces real pressure to act. Travel in Ghana's top flight — particularly for clubs making long road trips to remote venues like Samreboi — carries a level of risk that no footballer, at any level, should have to factor into their job. Until security protocols are meaningfully upgraded, the fixture list itself becomes a liability.
Berekum Chelsea's season is on hold in the most painful way possible. A dressing room doesn't recover from something like this in a week, or a month. Any football consideration is secondary.
Dominic Frimpong was 20. He won't get another match.
