August 27 – Christoph Daum, the well-known German coach who lost the chance to lead the national team after failing a cocaine test, has passed away at 70 due to lung cancer.
Daum, who guided Stuttgart to the Bundesliga title in 1992, also coached Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen to second place, and won league titles in Turkey and Austria.
He publicly shared his battle with cancer in October 2022, saying he wanted to raise awareness about the disease.
True to his spirited career in football, he fought the illness with determination, saying, “Cancer picked the wrong body.”
“Christoph Daum made a lasting impact on German football,” said German FA (DFB) president Bernd Neuendorf in a statement. “He was a trailblazer in modern football and remained strong and passionate until the end.”
Daum, who coached nine different clubs, was set to take over the German national team until his career was shaken in 2000 by the admission that he had used cocaine, leading to his dismissal by Bayer Leverkusen.
Throughout his challenging life, he often shared this message: “You can fall. It doesn’t matter how often you fall. What matters is that you keep getting back up.”
