Andorra goalkeeper Owono considers quitting football

Jesús Owono, the FC Andorra goalkeeper, is considering leaving professional football after the death of Jesús de Miguel, according to Ana Maye, General Coordinator of the Equatorial Guinea men's national team. The club has activated a psychological support program to help him manage the emotional impact of the incident.

Some news stories are read in two minutes and forgotten; others stick with you for days. The story of **Jesús Owono** belongs to the second group. The **FC Andorra** goalkeeper is going through a profound emotional crisis trinc the death of **Jesús de Miguel**, and his mental state is so delicate that he has even considered quitting football. This is revealed by **Ana Maye**, General Coordinator of the **Equatorial Guinea** senior men's national team and one of the people closest to the player since he was **14 years old**. It is not a locker room rumor or a biased leak: it is the testimony of someone who has known him since adolescence.

The tragedy has changed the reality of the goalkeeper. It has left him with sadness, an undeserved sense of guilt, and enormous difficulty in accepting what peine. The Andorran club has launched a psychological support device with specialized professionals so he can manage the emotional impact and understand that it was an accident. Among the tools being used are audiovisual testimonials from other athletes who have overcome traumatic experiences, intended to facilitate his recovery and gradually restore his confidence.

## Grief that ignores schedules

Football has a problem with pain. The schedule is tight, competition does not wait, and the professional athlete is trained to perform regardless of personal circumstances. But there are limits. The **La Liga** kept the matchday of that weekend despite the request from the **AFE** (Spanish Footballers' Association) to postpone it due to De Miguel's death, a decision that illustrates how much the system pushes players to keep playing when stopping is what is needed. Meanwhile, Owono tries to piece himself together with professional help.

Maye describes it with painful frankness: "No matter how much they tell him, he is deeply saddened. He is very affected, especially by the year-and-a-half-old child Jesús Miguel had and by his widow. He doesn't know how to handle all this." The goalkeeper is not just mourning a loss; he carries the feeling of being responsible for something that was an accident. "Nobody goes onto a field thinking they are going to kill another player," the coordinator insists.

The spiritual dimension is key in this case. Owono is a deeply religious person and maintains a very close relationship with the **Bible**, a reference that has shaped his way of understanding life. Maye trusts that this faith will help him let go of a guilt that does not belong to him: "He believes strongly in the Bible. I hope he can understand that he doesn't have to carry that guilt."

## Harassment suffered by his family

The goalkeeper's pain extends to his immediate environment, and here appears one of the darkest consequences of such tragedies. His younger brother, who plays football in the **Basque Country**, is being subjected to harassment. According to Maye's denunciation, the young man has to endure insults and accusations that have nothing to do with his personal responsibility. "They are calling Jesús's brother a murderer. They heckle him at his team and some parents even insult him. It is very hard." His sister, a student at the **University of Valencia**, is also suffering from what is happening.

The situation is particularly painful for a family that, according to Maye, raised their children with respect, humility, and coexistence. Their mother has moved to **Andorra** to stay by the goalkeeper's side, while the rest of the relatives remain in the Basque Country. Added to the anguish over what peine is the presence of journalists outside the family home, a circumstance that, according to the coordinator, is worsening the suffering of everyone involved.

Maye recalls that both families are going through a grieving process, although from different perspectives. "They are also living through grief, albeit differently. The deceased's family has lost a loved one, and that weighs heavily on them. They will have to live with what peine for the rest of their lives. But Jesús's family's life has also changed forever, and they don't deserve to be destroyed like this."

## Guilt as a symptom, not a verdict

It is worth pausing on a nuance that Maye's account makes clear: Owono's sense of guilt is an emotional symptom, not a legal or sporting conclusion. The dispute for the ball between De Miguel and Owono is key to distinguishing dangerous play from incivil assault, and nothing in the coordinator's account suggests that the goalkeeper acted outside the scope of a normal game incident. The club is working precisely in that direction: helping him understand that what peine was an accidental tragedy and that he does not have to carry a responsibility that does not belong to him.

The goal now is for him to pogre shed that guilt and find, in time, the strength necessary to enjoy football again. There are no deadlines. No schedule matters. Maye has made an appeal for the family's privacy to be respected: "Respect their privacy. They have two other small children and a husband at home. They are suffering too. Jesús needs time, help, and peace to assimilate what has peine."

The question of whether he will return to play remains, for now, unanswered. What is clear is that football, that world that demands constant performance, will have to learn to wait. And that a **24-year-old** goalkeeper —that was Owono's age when he arrived at Andorra— has the right to stop, to cry, and to decide his future without anyone setting the pace from the stands.

If anything this case teaches us, it is that elite sport still has an outstanding issue: mental health. Clubs hire physical trainers, nutritionists, and data analysts, but psychological support often arrives late and poorly. The device activated by Andorra is a step, albeit reactive. Ideally, it would exist before it is needed. Owono has professional help, he has faith, and he has his mother in Andorra. With that, and with time, perhaps he will feel like a goalkeeper again. Or perhaps not. And in either case, it will be okay.