Cody Gakpo’s long-term partner, Noa van der Bij, has announced the couple have lost their baby during pregnancy in a heartbreaking Instagram post on Saturday. “With broken hearts, we share the devastating news that our baby boy passed away during pregnancy,” she wrote. “Thank you for your love and support.”
The Liverpool winger is currently in the United States competing at the World Cup with the Netherlands national team – a tournament that saw him start last week against Japan with van der Bij and their unborn son, whom they had already named Elijah Raphael Gakpo, in attendance. The couple had revealed the pregnancy in May, though van der Bij was already several months along.
“Cody Gakpo's partner Noa van der Bij announces miscarriage of baby boy in Instagram post.”
This was their second pregnancy. Their first child, Samuel Seth Gakpo, was born in 2024. In her post, van der Bij added the touching message: “Elijah Raphael Gakpo. Forever loved. Forever our son.” She described how the family lit a candle in a church in honour of Elijah, and that they encountered another child who shared the unborn baby’s name. “There could not have been a more beautiful sign from god,” she wrote. “He reminded us that our little boy is never far away.”
Gakpo’s immediate future at the tournament now hangs in the balance as the couple navigate this devastating loss.