In October last year, the former successful coach Christoph Daum (69) made his cancer diagnosis public. The 69-year-old has now returned with an optimistic update. He “underwent very intensive chemotherapy until December, which worked very well and eliminated all metastases,” said the former master coach of “Sport Bild”. Now he is “in phase two, the immune therapy” and generally feels “good”.
Daum explained his long-term chances of recovery: “It would be wishful thinking to believe that we could conquer cancer and say: It’s gone. For me it’s more about being able to say: We have it under control and I can grow old with it”. In order to achieve this state, according to Daum, “a few more therapies are necessary”.
The cancer was discovered in the former Bundesliga coach during a routine health check in the summer of 2022. “Irregularities occurred as a result of which the lung carcinoma was discovered,” revealed the five-time champion coach, who last helped Fenerbahçe Istanbul to the title in 2004 and 2005 Super Lig had led. After his diagnosis, he quit smoking “from one day to the next after 38 years”. Now he can “only advise everyone over the age of 50 to go to regular check-ups”.
Christoph Daum is known throughout Germany as a coaching legend. From the 1980s to 2017, he coached numerous Bundesliga clubs as well as teams in other European countries. VfB Stuttgart became German champions under his hand in 1992. A positive cocaine test prevented him from becoming national coach in 2001. Most recently, he coached the Romanian national team from July 2016 to September 2017. After that it became mostly quiet around Daum.
