Soccer Player, 21, Dies After Jumping Into the Rhône River During Record French Heatwave

The three young men were swept away by the strong currents near the Feyssine weir at around 5:30 p.m., prosecutors told French outlet BFMTV.

Rudy Blalock

Published: 6/25/2026, 11:54:36 PM EDT

Soccer Player, 21, Dies After Jumping Into the Rhône River During Record French Heatwave — A drugstore sign shows the temperature of 41 degrees Celsius (105,8 degrees Fahrenheit) in Bordeaux, southwestern France, on June 23, 2026. (Caroline Blumberg/AP Photo)

A 21-year-old French soccer player died after drowning in the Rhône River this week during a brutal heatwave that has claimed dozens of lives across France, his club and authorities confirmed.

Kenzo Kies—a reserve player for En Avant Guingamp, a club competing in Ligue 2, the second tier of French professional soccer—was swimming with two friends on Monday afternoon in Feyssine Park, on the border between the Lyon-area municipalities of Villeurbanne and Caluire-et-Cuire, according to the Lyon prosecutor's office.

The three young men were swept away by strong currents near the Feyssine weir at around 5:30 p.m., prosecutors told French outlet BFMTV. The two men he was with were rescued with non-life-threatening injuries. Kies was pulled from the water and hospitalized but was later declared brain dead.

The area where the tragedy unfolded, locally nicknamed "Hawaii-sur-Rhône," is a stretch of riverbank popular with swimmers and surfers despite its well-documented dangers. It is a zone where swimming is prohibited, prosecutors noted, and features a small wave area where powerful currents pose serious hazards. The site has a grim history—as recently as Aug. 12, 2025, a young man drowned there while attempting to rescue his dog, according to Le Progrès, a Lyon-based regional newspaper.

An investigation into the circumstances of Kies' death has been opened by the Lyon prosecutor's office and assigned to the Rhône interdepartmental police directorate.

Kies had deep roots in Lyon's soccer community. A native of the city, he began playing organized soccer as early as 2010, cycling through the youth academies of FC Lyon, Olympique Lyonnais, AS Saint-Priest, and AS Saint-Étienne before signing with Guingamp last summer, according to Le Progrès. Though contracted to a Ligue 2 club, he had been playing with the reserve team and had not yet appeared in a professional match.

Tributes poured in on social media from his former clubs after the news broke. "En Avant Guingamp has had the sorrow of learning of the death of Kenzo Kies, a young player with the Club," the team wrote on X. "En Avant Guingamp extends its most sincere condolences to Kenzo Kies's family as well as to all his loved ones, and offers them its full support during this painful ordeal."

AS Saint-Étienne, where Kies spent seven years developing his game, mourned the loss of one of its own. "A resident of the Robert-Herbin Sports Center for seven years, a talented player, and a quiet young man appreciated by everyone, Kenzo Kies lost his life in tragic circumstances," the club wrote on X. "Kenzo, in the corridors of L'Étrat, no one will ever forget you."

French Interior Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on Tuesday that 40 people had drowned in France since June 18, "mostly young people," describing the toll as "a tragic scourge," Le Progrès reported.

The heatwave driving people toward rivers and waterways has been extreme. A heat record was broken in Lyon on Monday, with temperatures reaching 101.3 degrees Fahrenheit by 4 p.m. and climbing to 103.6 degrees Fahrenheit an hour later in one neighborhood, according to BFMTV. Forecasters expected temperatures to remain near 102 degrees Fahrenheit through midweek, with more than half of France under red alert.