Jayden Adams’ passing highlights need for stronger mental health support in football

The passing of former Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Jayden Adams has prompted renewed debate about the mental health support available to professional footballers, particularly those competing at the highest level.

The discussion has focused on the pressures players face during major tournaments, after a narrative emerged on social media suggesting Adams may have been dealing with mental health difficulties while in camp with Bafana Bafana at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. That speculation followed news of the death of his grandmother.

The circumstances have also led to growing calls for football clubs and national associations to take sport psychology support more seriously, ensuring players have access to appropriate guidance before, during and after major competitions such as the World Cup.

Jordan Byrne, a Mental Performance and Sport Psychology expert and University of the Western Cape alumnus, told KickOff that general psychological wellbeing and performance psychology are closely connected, but should not be treated as the same discipline.

“We can split this into two different things, let’s talk about your general well-being, psychological well-being as a human and then we talk about performance psychology,” Byrne said.

“And while they are very much linked, they are two separate things. If we’re talking about general well-being, it’s natural for a person to feel emotional about losing someone or losing your job.

“If we’re not taught how to deal with these emotions from a young age appropriately, we find all sorts of coping mechanisms to deal with day to day, be it substance abuse, or any other disruptive behavior,” Byrne explained.

He said some people respond to difficult experiences by withdrawing or suppressing their feelings, but warned that this can leave them unprepared when confronted by significant events later in life.

“Some people keep quiet, they bottle everything up, that’s their way of coping. It’s not a healthy way of doing it. So if we’re not taught from a young age how to process those emotions appropriately, we’re not really equipped when major life events do happen, which inevitably happens to everyone.”

Byrne said the consequences could be particularly serious for footballers who lack a reliable support network or have not developed the tools needed to process grief and other emotions.

“If we don’t have people around us or we’re not equipped, it is a recipe for disaster. It (the loss of someone) can trigger anxiety and depression and episodes of psychosis or other issues,” Byrne continued.

He also highlighted the value of psychological education within youth development programmes, saying players should be taught from an early age how emotions work and how to manage them appropriately.

“A lot of work I’ve done in youth academies is what we call psycho education, which is basically from a young age we start the basics on what emotions are, how we experience them and appropriate ways to deal with both negative and positive emotions.”

Although discussions about mental health often focus on distress and negative emotions, Byrne said positive feelings also require careful management. Excessive confidence, he added, can develop into arrogance if it is not controlled.

“It’s very easy to talk about the negative side, which is a massive factor but the positive emotions too. If we’re not managing our positive emotions correctly, it can lead us to over-confidence and arrogance-type of a thing,” Byrne added.

Byrne can be contacted for professional help on Instagram through @MindMattersPerformance, also known as Mind Matters, or by email at Jordan@mindmatterspro.uk. Neal Lasanble