Football prodigy stabbed to death outside school brought to life in FIFA 2021
This is how it should have been. Kiyan Prince standing proudly in his kit, entering the peak years of a football career which exceeded the hopes of even the scouts who spotted his prodigious talent as kid.
But the image is not real. It was made by programmers for the FIFA 2021 game in tribute to the 15-year-old stabbed to death trying to stop a fight outside his school in 2006.
For Kiyan’s dad, Dr Mark Prince OBE, it is all part of keeping his son’s legacy alive.
Remarkably,15 years to the day after his family’s life was torn apart Mark remains determined to work with Kiyan’s killer – and countless more attackers and victims – through the foundation he set up in his son’s name.
He is equally determined to ensure his family are not consumed by fear of knife crime. “I’m very careful,” he says “not to project any fears on to my children”.
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But as well as coping with Kiyan’s murdered other family members have suffered their own knife terrors.
“My daughter was threatened with a knife by a guy on a bus,” Mark explained.
“My stepson had his phone taken from him at knifepoint at a station and I thought, ‘Is someone trying to call me out? What’s going on?’
“There have been times when it was like, ‘What is this? Open season on my children?’.
“So I get it. I get what’s going on with parents. But I do have to trust in God because, when my son was killed, I realised I don’t have power to save my children.
“What Kiyan taught us is it is all about what you do with the time you have.”
In 2019, Queen’s Park Rangers, where Kiyan had earned rave reviews in the youth team, renamed their ground the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
And computer giant EA Sports leapt at the chance to add his character to FIFA 21, with players able to play as a fully-grown Kiyan from today.
Imaging experts aged him from family photos and developed his playing style after speaking to those closest to him.
It all adds up to portraying Kiyan as the star – on and off the pitch – Mark believes his son would have become.
“He was destined to become a beautiful young man who was going to do everything he set his heart to,” Mark said. “He was going to be somebody loved.
“I have so many stories about him from people whose lives he’d already impacted. QPR recognised his value as a young boy. He stood out.”
Mark’s next plan is to raise £1million to open a centre for vulnerable young men to receive support, realise their ambitions and make positive contributions to their communities.
“At times it is hard for me,” said Mark. “No matter how many tears I’ve cried, how painful, how broken I’ve been – and trust me, I’ve been heartbroken – nobody will know what I’ve been through.
“But I don’t believe God will put you through something and not provide you with the tools to get the job done. He has been my counsellor and Kiyan, through him, inspires me to help other people.
“So far we’ve calculated that we’ve helped around 86,000 people before Covid came along.”
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Kiyan’s killer, Hannad Hasan, was a fellow pupil at Kiyan’s school in Edgware, North London. He is in prison after receiving a life sentence with a minimum of 13 years.
Despite his horrific crime Mark is keen to meet the Somalian refugee.
“Why wouldn’t I?” he said. “He has impacted my life, the life of Kiyan’s mum Tracy and his brothers and sisters in such a way a conversation needs to be had.
“He pushed a blade inside my son’s heart and took him away from us.
“Before that he was doing things that were just straight red flags – urinating in the corridor, fighting with teachers.
“He threatened a girl with a knife two weeks before he stabbed my son. Somebody needed to go to his home, get therapists, get some counselling – all things that were way cheaper than a million pound trial.
"My feelings towards him are no different to when I go into prisons and speak to other young men who have put people in wheelchairs or taken their lives. I have to go in there and break that cycle.
“We are criminalising young people instead of recognising the impact of the things thrown at them.
“Stuff I’d have been frightened to see at six years old, seven, eight, these youths are getting it daily.
“You see kids seeing stabbings and brutality at such a young age that they are experiencing PTSD right there.
“So when I go into prisons I talk to young men with a lived experience so they have no excuse to get into killing.
“Somebody killed my son and I had the greatest excuse to react – but I didn’t.”
Mark is under no illusions that the fight will be anything other than and hard.
Thousands of knives were seized and surrendered in a recent crackdown, according to figures last week.
Three weeks ago 18-year-old Junior Jah was stabbed in Newham, east London.
His brother, 21-year-old Ahmed Deen-Jah, was also stabbed to death in the area in 2017.
“My wife lets me know what’s going on out there,” Mark went on. “It’s too painful for me to see it.
“So I commit to God and positivity. That way I can to focus on what I can do to bring about change.”
Kiyan Prince will be available in Kick-Off Mode and Career Mode in FIFA 21 from May 18 on PC and from May 19 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles. Within FIFA Ultimate Team, from May 18 players can access custom Kiyan Prince vanity items through the completion of in-game objectives, including a Kiyan Prince Foundation Kit inspired by the 04/05 QPR home kit, and an honorary TIFO of Kiyan that appears every time a goal is scored.
Visit www.thekpf.com for details
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