Hard-driving professional soccer player flies into sports hall in Belgium with car

Moroccan-Belgian soccer player Sofian Kiyine (25) flew his car at full speed through the wall of a sports hall yesterday. The accident happened in Flémalle, near Liège. The professional footballer is out of danger, reports his club Oud-Heverlee Leuven.

There was havoc in the sports hall. No one else was involved in the accident, but that may be called a miracle. There were children in the hall shortly before the accident. They had just gone to the locker rooms, says a local administrator, according to the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.

CCTV footage shows the Mercedes driving at high speed straight through a traffic circle, causing it to be launched. The vehicle then flies through the wall of the sports hall at a height of a few meters.

A surveillance camera filmed how the car flies through the air:

Belgian newspaper La Dernière Heure reports that the car was possibly traveling 200 kilometers per hour while 90 is allowed at that spot.

Belgian-born Kiyine has been playing for the Leuven club, which plays in the highest division of Belgian soccer, since last year. The club wishes him a speedy recovery and will not comment further until there is more clarity on what happened.

The midfielder was under contract with Lazio Roma until last September. That club rented him out to several other Italian clubs. Kiyine played a number of international matches for Moroccan youth teams.