In a documentary series about FC Bayern, goalkeeping legend Oliver Kahn spoke openly about his severe depression at the end of the 90s. The pressure to succeed and brutal ambition would have led to total exhaustion.
Oliver Kahn suffered from severe depression during his career in the late 1990s, as the former FC Bayern goalkeeper has now known. The frank words can be heard in the new documentary series “FC Bayern – Behind the Legend” (from November 2nd, Amazon Prime Video). In it, Kahn looks back on his playing career – with the remarkable admission.
“The FC Bayern jersey weighs a few pounds more because the legends sit on the shoulder,” he says of the ever-present history of FC Bayern. The permanent pressure to succeed paired with Kahn’s brutal ambition (“Always on”) led to the fact that he was “simply exhausted” at the end of the 1990s. “Depression, burnout, these are all things that come together somewhere. If you can’t get up your own stairs at home without falling over exhausted, then you start to worry.”
Oliver Kahn: You have to listen to your body
Kahn admits in the series by director Simon Verhoeven: “You can see where that can take you. Always higher, further. And even further. And one more step. Still not satisfied.” According to Kahn, you have to listen to your body, which at some point will signal: “This is the end, I can’t go on here. Not everything is possible.”
Kahn’s confession is not entirely new. In 2017, Oliver Kahn reported on the psychological problems for the first time in Sandra Maischberger’s program “Ich stelle mich”. “Mentally and physically nothing worked. I woke up in the morning and didn’t know how to get to training now?” Said Kahn, describing the time after the dramatically lost Champions League final in 1999 against Manchester United.
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
