Borussia Mönchengladbach player Jordi Bongard dies in traffic accident aged 20

By George Ramsay, CNN

Updated 1831 GMT (0231 HKT) February 24, 2022

Bongard played for Gladbach's under-23 side.

(CNN)German football club Borussia Mönchengladbach is mourning the death of under-23 player Jordi Bongard.

The 20-year-old Bongard, who signed a professional contract with Gladbach last July, died in a serious traffic accident on Wednesday night, the club said.«We received this terrible news this morning and are stunned,» the club's sporting director, Roland Virkus, said in a statement. «Our deepest sympathy and our thoughts are with Jordi's family.»In light of the defender's death, Gladbach also announced that training sessions for the first team and under-23s scheduled for Thursday would be canceled, as well as the press conference ahead of the Bundesliga game against Wolfsburg.«This truly hurts. We extend our sincerest condolences [to] Jordi's family, friends and everyone at Gladbach,» Wolfsburg, one of a number of Bundesliga clubs to pay tribute to Bongard, wrote on Twitter. Read MoreVisit CNN.com/sport for more news, videos and featuresBongard had played for Gladbach since 2013, progressing through the youth ranks before signing his professional contract last year.

CNN's Nadine Schmidt contributed to reporting