Christian Atsu’s Wife Reveals Why She Didn’t Cry Over Her Dead Husband

Christian Atsu‘s wife, Marie-Claire Rupio, was too shocked to cry when she finally got the confirmation that her husband who was miles away in Turkey had died in an earthquake.

Christian Atsu who played for Ghana national team from 2012 to 2019, left Newcastle United for a Saudi Pro League club, Al Raed FC, in 2021. A season after, he joined Turkish side Hatayspor in September 2022.

In the first week of February 2023, an earthquake hit a part of Turkey and a part of Syria which unfortunately affected a house in which Christian Atsu was a day after a game.

Marie-Claire Rupio who was left in England with two sons and a daughter, last called Atsu on February 4, as his team prepared for a game on February 5.

In the game, Atsu scored the winning goal as Hatayspor won Kasımpaşa 1-0. Hours after the victory, the 31-year-old Ghanian winger was submerged in the debris of a hotel he and some of his teammates lodged.

“I didn’t believe that it could happen in a place [where] he would be,” his wife told the BBC. “As a human being, you think this can’t happen to you or anybody you love.

“I was like ‘he’s fine and he will call’. But then after a while, his sister called and told me that his building had collapsed. I was shocked, it was hard to believe.”

Authorities in Turkey searched for his body for days before his remains were found on February 18, 2023. He was buried in Accra, Ghana, on March 17.

Marie-Claire Rupio said, “I couldn’t really cry because I was in shock. I didn’t want to believe [it was true]. I think my body just shut down.

“The next morning the children had football and I didn’t want to take that from them. After [that] I had to sit them down and explain it to them.

“It’s not easy. It’s not something you would wish on anybody.”