Grieving Kuffour given Bayern break

FC Bayern München's Sammy Kuffour has been allowed to return to Ghana to mourn the death of his young daughter.

Shocking tragedy
The 26-year-old defender has returned to the Ghanaian capital Accra on a private aeroplane chartered by Bayern commercial manager Uli Hoeness after hearing the terrible news that his 15-month old daughter Godiva had died. Bayern have given Kuffour leave from training until he feels ready to rejoin the team.

'A very bad start'
"We do not know anything for sure, but from what we have heard, Sammy's daughter drowned in a swimming pool," a deeply shocked Hoeness said at the first training session after the winter break. "This is a very bad start to the new year - everything else is not so important for the moment."

Prodigious talent
Kuffour, who has been at the Olympiastadion for eight years, is regarded as one of the best defenders in the world. At the age of just 14, he won the FIFA U17-World Championship with Ghana, and he has subsequently played more than 55 UEFA Champions League matches for Bayern.

Career highlight
Perhaps the highlight of his career was his 'golden goal' in the European/South American Cup, when Bayern beat Argentinian side CA Boca Juniors 1-0 in Tokyo in November 2001. A few months later he was runner-up in the vote for the 2001 African footballer of the year behind Senegal's El Hadji Diouf.