“I’ll prove that you were right”—he’ll give it his all to do so, writes Yan Diomande at the end of his letter, published shortly before the Ivory Coast’s second World Cup match against Germany on Saturday. He begins with: “Dear Roxane, do you remember…” It is a letter to his sister, who died at the age of 15 and meant everything to the Bundesliga pro from RB Leipzig.
“Even before I had real soccer cleats, you told everyone, ‘My brother is going to be the best in the world,’” writes the 19-year-old. The magazine “The Players’ Tribune” published the letter in full, along with photos from the forward’s youth. “I will achieve what you predicted—I swear it,” writes Diomande.
He writes this because he cannot speak about it. “I’m writing this because I want you to know: I’ll make sure your memory lives on,” Diomande says. According to the letter, his sister died a few weeks before his debut in March 2025 in Spain for Leganés.
