METZ, France (AP) — After surviving a fatal bar fire in Switzerland on New Year’s Day, French soccer player Tahirys Dos Santos has signed his first professional contract with Metz.
The Ligue 1 club announced the one-year contract signing late Monday, nine days after the 19-year-old defender returned to play for its reserves team.
Dos Santos was severely burned in the fire at a bar in ski resort Crans-Montana in the early hours of Jan. 1 that killed 41 people and injured more than 100.
“This moment has an even more special meaning after the difficult months I went through in the hospital,” Dos Santos said in a club statement. “This test made me stronger and taught me to never give up.”
The French teenager, who has family ties to Cape Verde, joined his local club Metz at age eight. His return to action on April 11 was in the French fifth-tier division.
Metz is last in Ligue 1 and will be relegated to play in the second tier next season.
A product of Metz’ youth academy, Dos Santos is described by the club as “a tireless worker and exemplary both on and off the field.”
After being named captain of the reserve team at the start of the season, he began training with the first team and earned his first call-up at the end of December for a French Cup match.
“I am very happy and proud to sign my first professional contract with my training club. It’s the culmination of many years of work, sacrifice, and determination to achieve my childhood dream,” he said.
That dream could have come to an abrupt end in Crans-Montana. But Dos Santos managed to survive the inferno.
While he could have escaped before the fire spread, he turned back to rescue his girlfriend Coline from the restroom.
“We had been in the bar for thirty or forty minutes, the atmosphere was good,” he told L’Equipe newspaper earlier this year. “Coline wanted to go to the restroom, so I went with her. I came out before she did and headed toward the exit. That’s when I saw the flames. I immediately understood we were in danger. I didn’t think — I turned back to get her. I shouted her name, and she immediately saw in my eyes that something was wrong. She followed me right away.”
Dos Santos recalled that he was separated from his girlfriend after they both slipped in a staircase as panic spread. L’Equipe reported that Dos Santos suffered burns to his back, face, hands and arms, and underwent a skin graft. Coline was evacuated to a hospital in Belgium and spent three weeks in a coma, undergoing surgery three times.
“I want to send all my support to everyone who is still fighting, never lose hope,” Dos Santos said.
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