“An up and down of emotions”: Christoph Daum’s widow speaks out

“My husband didn’t want us to freeze in grief and drown in suffering”: Angelica Camm-Daum (57), the widow of the late former football coach Christoph Daum (1953-2024), tries as best she can to maintain the positive attitude that characterized her husband throughout his life. However, she doesn’t always succeed in doing so, as she revealed in an interview with the magazine “Bunte”. And who could do that so soon after a serious loss: It was only a month ago that Daum lost his years-long battle with cancer after countless chemotherapy treatments and died on August 24 at the age of 70.

“I am incredibly sad,” Camm-Daum gives an insight into her current emotional world. “When things calm down, you can actually start to process everything. Emotions are up and down, I need time.” What is helping her through this difficult phase of grief: “I feel Christoph’s love everywhere.”

Touching detail of their love

Camm-Daum also revealed to “Bunte” that she did not call her husband Christoph in private – but addressed him by his middle name Paul: “I thought that was sweet, he liked it too.” As tragic as the past few years were in light of Daum’s serious illness, she appreciated the bond that was strengthened as a result: “My love for Paul became even more intense during this difficult time. A lot has grown in these two years, including in the family, which was all gathered around his deathbed at the end.”

The two lived as husband and wife for 27 years, and had been together for another seven years before that. The memorial service in the Cologne football stadium in mid-September in honour of Christoph Daum was therefore a spiritual full circle for them. It was there that they had tied the knot in 2007: “We walked from the two goals towards the centre circle, 60 metres of reflection time, so to speak. That was typical Christoph: He said that was the start of a really big game.”