Former Sporting KC player Gadi Kinda dies at 31 years old

By MATT PIKE

St. Joseph Post

Gadi Kinda, a former Sporting Kansas City player, has died at the age of 31.

Kinda was a midfielder for Sporting KC in 2020, 2021 and 2023. He played in 64 matches in that span, scored 14 goals and had 12 assists.

Sporting Kansas City announced his passing on X Tuesday morning, and later put out a statement from the club. 

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of former Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gadi Kinda. Our hearts are with Gadi’s family, his friends, teammates and all who knew him.” the statement read. 

Interim manager Kerry Zavagnin, who served as the assistant manager during Kinda’s time with the team, says there’s a lot of raw emotion with the club right now

“Obviously in the club right now and the way that the group is taking it, in such a difficult way, it goes to show what he meant to all of us. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family at this difficult time. He was such an electric figure in our club and he’s going to be dearly missed.” Zavagnin says.

Zavagnin says while it’s difficult to process the news, it’s another moment of compartmentalizing.

“It hurts down to my heart knowing him as a person, which was a much better version than what he was as a player. And he was a pretty darn good player. So that part hurts, as much as you want to admit that we can’t escape change and we can’t escape what the ultimate is for all of us, it’s difficult on a day like today.” Zavagnin explains.

The cause of his death was not announced. According to The Jerusalem Post, Kinda had been battling a serious medical condition for the past several weeks.

Kinda most recently played for Maccabi Haifa in the Europa League. He also represented the Israeli national football team

You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.