Yesterday, Monday, Sébastien Haller complained of being unwell. The tumor was then discovered during the subsequent medical examination. The further checks will now show how long he will be out and what treatment is necessary.
Were there previously known cases?
At the former Frankfurter Marco Russ a testicular tumor was also found by chance in 2015. He confessed to “Stern”: “Normally you are randomly drawn for doping controls. That’s when I noticed that a value was too high and then I was appointed to the control again to see if the value changed. At some point it is the Nada (anti-doping agency, editor’s note) approached us because they suspected that I was doping. But it was about a substance that can also be produced by the body itself.” In the subsequent analysis, a malignant tumor, i.e. testicular cancer, was finally diagnosed. It was nine months before he made a comeback on the pitch.
Other well-known footballers such as Arjen Robben or Eric Abidal have also had a tumor on their testicles.
Are players screened for testicular tumors before each season?
Every club handles it differently. However, most don’t do it. Fredi Bobic commented on the question in the “Welt am Sonntag”: “As far as the routine examinations of the players before a season are concerned, a lot is checked. A urological examination is not on the list, especially since this diagnosis was made in a 24 -year-olds is unusual.”
Do football professionals have an increased risk?
No, says the urologist Prof. Klaus-Peter Dieckmann. In an interview with the German Press Agency in 2015, he explained: “Sport is generally a protective factor, so it protects against cancer.” Other factors play more of a role: “It occurs more frequently in the same families – if the father had testicular cancer, the risk is four to six times higher; with the brother it is six to ten times higher.” A light skin color and a height of over 1.95 meters also increase the risk. Dieckmann said of the latter: “We suspect that this is due to a high-calorie diet in early childhood.”
However, one thing is clear: testicular cancer is the most common type of cancer in men between the ages of 20 and 40. So, of course, football professionals are also affected.