Ex-OHL Star Kiyine Crashes Again: Alcohol Relapse Shocks Fans and Officials

"What’s good for me, what’s not? One thing is certain: alcohol, it’s over. For my parents, for my faith," Sofian Kiyine had promised during an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws a few months after his accident that occurred on March 30, 2023 in Flémalle (in the province of Liège). While he was driving along the Meuse quays, at the level of Flémalle in the direction of Liège towards Flémalle, he had violently hit a roundabout before being ejected several meters and crossing the wall of the Louis Melin sports hall, located at the entrance of the municipality of Flémalle, at the intersection of the Destrée quay and the Passeur d’eau street. The Belgian-Moroccan player was driving at a speed exceeding 130 km/h on a section of road limited to 90 km/h. Eleven seconds before the crash, girls were still training at the accident site.

Injured, the attacking midfielder at OH Louvain at the time of the events had been transported to the hospital by the Liège firefighters. He had suffered multiple fractures, but he had been able to regain his health. Subsequently, the footballer had tested positive for the alcohol test. It appears that he had a blood alcohol level of 1.72 per thousand at the time of the accident. After this episode of his life, he had made a commitment not to drink alcohol anymore. To achieve this, he had undergone post-accident training at the VIAS Institute, had had an anti-start breathalyzer installed on his own initiative. He had also volunteered at the UZ Leuven rehabilitation center in Pellenberg, and had participated in an awareness-raising action with young players in Flémalle.

Last Saturday, he broke his commitments. "At seven o’clock in the morning, in the heart of Liège, he slipped again, this time at the wheel of a Mercedes Class E. His car hit a roundabout as he was driving on the Prémontrés street. He knocked down a traffic sign and then hit a streetlight," reports La Dernière Heure. Sofian "was probably driving in the wrong direction and at excessive speed in a construction zone," says RTL. The car almost exploded from the impact. The two occupants, him and his partner, were taken care of by the firefighters and transported to the hospital. Their vital prognosis is not engaged. The alcohol test carried out on the footballer proved positive. The footballer was immediately deprived of his driver’s license for 15 days.

The case of his first accident will be tried on appeal in the fall. Will the new accident have a negative impact on this trial? Officially, the 27-year-old player is not considered a repeat offender, we learn.