SC Freiburg: Nils Petersen on psychological problems and addiction in professional football

Was in therapy for 18 months

The former national player and Freiburg record goalscorer Nils Petersen had to undergo therapy for a year and a half during his active career due to mental problems, he said in interviews with the “dpa” and the “table football” price. The 34-year-old, who retired at the end of last season, explained that mental health issues in professional football are “an open secret” and widespread. He also commented on the topic of pill and painkiller addiction brought into public discourse by the former world star Dele Alli.

Petersen’s problems started during the national team’s training camp in South Tyrol before the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Before I thought, hopefully it will be Thursday again soon. Then there were the meetings,” said the 295-time Bundesliga professional, who is still the most successful joker in league history.

“I wasn’t myself with Bayern or the national team. I’m a communicative, humorous person, but I felt in the wrong place there, I didn’t see myself as being of the right quality. With the current experience I would be much more relaxed and at peace with myself. Whether I would have torn more is another matter. But I was often too tense back then, didn’t trust myself enough, was too good in training, kept my mouth shut and subordinated myself,” said the native of Wernigerode.

Mental problems: Ex-Freiburger Petersen feared for his career

At the time he was worried about his professional career. He was afraid of “what will happen next if I can no longer reach my performance level. Every game was like an exam, your head was spinning, your thoughts are omnipresent and you can’t sleep.” Petersen feared that his joie de vivre wouldn’t come back. “It was an existential fear for me about what’s coming next.” It was an internal struggle. Today he is fine.

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The ex-SC Freiburg striker does not see mental health in football as a taboo subject. “More like an open secret. When you articulate yourself, you first notice that other colleagues also suffer from similar problems or what kind of backpacks some people carry around with them. So you’re not alone.”

The number of unreported cases, he suspects, is quite high, both in football and in society. Everyone should find their way. Petersen also took a stand on the taboo subject of painkillers: “I got off well because my mother brought me up to live a healthy life and take medication as little as possible. I tried to bite my way through, or it just didn’t work. I guess it wasn’t 12 painkillers in my career. In general, if you don’t work, you’ll be pushed aside in no time. I can therefore understand that one or the other helped with painkillers to make his years as a professional as successful as possible. But if there are later negative after- and side effects in everyday life, you would certainly think differently about it.”

The most successful joker in Bundesliga history with 34 goals won Olympic silver in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, reached the cup final with SC Freiburg in 2022 and scored the goal of the year in 2018. In his season at Bayern Munich, where he rarely played, he became German runner-up in 2012 and reached the final of the Champions League.

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