FIFA 21 Pays Tribute to Murdered Player

Kiyan Prince was a 15-year-old footballer in the academy at London club Queens Park Rangers when he was tragically murdered outside of his school. Fifteen years later, FIFA 21 will pay tribute to his memory by bringing his likeness into the game.

Prince, whose early promise as a youth made him a likely candidate for national play, would have been 30 this year had a classmate not stabbed him in the heart in 2006. Reuters reports special effects studio Framestore and a team of scientists from the University of Bradford worked to imagine how Prince would have looked at 30 years old, then worked with EA Sports to import the face into FIFA 21. Prince's in-game model will wear the number 30 on its jersey to signify his age.

The Queens Park Rangers will symbolically re-sign Prince on Tuesday, the 15-year anniversary of his death.

Prince's father, former boxer Dr. Mark Prince, has established the Kiyan Prince Foundation to combat youth violence in the United Kingdom. Dr. Prince and the foundation have worked to print Kiyan's likeness on billboards and ad campaigns, both to memorialize Kiyan and raise awareness for the foundation's anti-violence message.

"The thing that God placed in my heart from the beginning was that your son is not going to die for no reason," Dr. Prince told Reuters.

Former footballer and QPR director of football Les Ferdinand said Kiyan Prince appearing in-game would help dissuade other young players from violent crime.

"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," he said.