From BZ/dpa
Soccer legend Oliver Kahn has found the monkey noises and bananas he received from fans at opposing stadiums during his career “degrading”. These circumstances also contributed to the fact that he had to seek medical help over the course of his career in order to deal with burnout and depression.
That’s what the former Bayern goalkeeper said barge and current CEO of the Munich club in a podcast that will appear on (today) Monday, which he recorded together with his long-time therapist Florian Holsboer.
Kahn’s low point. Ronaldo had scored 1-0 in the World Cup final after a goalkeeper error against him Photo: dpa
Kahn also recalled on the podcast how he almost broke up after his goalkeeping error in the 2002 World Cup final, which started the German team’s 2-0 defeat by Brazil. “Two billion people watched me fail,” says Kahn, who is now 53 years old.
Too much pressure: Kahn despaired
The shame about it, his exuberant ambition, growing pressure to succeed from outside and experiences of sporting failure such as losing the Champions League final with Bayern in injury time in 1999 finally made him despair.
Only with the help of the Munich medical professor Holsboer did he work his way out of his low. But it was never an option for him to leave competitive football. Rather, “I wanted to look for a way in my job to develop new resilience”.
With the podcast commissioned by the Holsboers Foundation, the doctor and Kahn want to free mental illnesses from their stigma. In this context, Kahn also referred to the recently reported case of the French defender at Bayern Munich, Benjamin Pavard, who was able to make his depression public without any negative consequences. That was unthinkable when he was active until 2008, says Kahn.
But a lot has changed in football. He was also convinced that throwing bananas and making monkey noises in stadiums would no longer be tolerated and would certainly not be perceived as original.