Regarded as one of Germany’s best midfielders of all time, Michael Ballack, has lost his son, Emilio, aged 18 to an unfortunate accident in the wee hours of Thursday morning (August 5) in Troia, Portugal.
According to reports in the Portuguese media, Emilio was involved in a tragic quad crash that is said to have occurred at around 2 am after which the firefighters who rushed to the scene later confirmed the victim as Emilio Ballack.
The incident reportedly took place on a piece of land close to a holiday house Ballack purchased some years back. The 18-year-old was declared dead at the spot of the accident as the quad bike he was riding is understood to have lost balance and fallen on top of Ballack’s son crushing him in an instant.
At the time of the crash, the teenager was riding a vehicle that is said to have been designed for the public road. Ballack lost one of his three children that he has with his ex-wife Somine Lambe whom he divorced in 2012. Emilio was born in 2002, a year after their eldest son, Louis, and was three years older than their youngest, Jordi.
Prior to the horrible accident, Emilio was seen spending quality time with family in Portugal on social media. On July 25, Emilio’s older brother Louis shared on Instagram about how the Ballack boys decided to chill along the beautiful peninsular Portuguese coastline of Troia.
After an illustrious career at Stamford Bridge that lasted four years from 2006-10 where Ballack scored a total of 25 goals and provided 24 assists in 167 appearances for Chelsea, he joined his earlier club Bayer Leverkusen back to where he first rose to prominence. The attacking midfielder won a Premier League title and a FA Cup with the London club.
The now 44-year-old also scored 42 goals in 98 appearances for Germany and even captained the national side for several years during his playing career. He was a member of the German team that finished as the runner-up at the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and the UEFA Euro Cup in 2008.
The legendary Germany international retired from professional football in 2012. Ballack has not made any official comment on his son’s tragic passing after this morning’s fatal accident.
