Christoph Daum, the fearless football coach who was stripped of his position as Germany’s national team manager after admitting to cocaine use, has died. He was 70 years old.
Daum died on Saturday at his home in Cologne after a battle with cancer, his family told the dpa news agency on Sunday.
“He was a pioneer of modern football and remained passionate about the game, albeit controversial, until the very end,” said German Football Association president Bernd Neuendorf. “I met him personally a few weeks before he passed away and was able to experience this first-hand. He lived football with all his heart and soul.”
Daum’s battle with cancer was emblematic of his life: Even as a skinny kid growing up in the West German city of Duisburg, he would pick fights with boys who were bigger and stronger than him, the Associated Press reported.
A passionate and demanding coach, he led Stuttgart to the Bundesliga title in 1992, but Daum never lifted the trophy again. From 1996 to 2000, his Bayer Leverkusen teams finished runners-up three times and third once. In 2000, Leverkusen missed out on their first Bundesliga title with a 2-0 loss to newly promoted Unterhaching. Daum said he broke down in tears.
Leverkusen had to wait until this year to shed the nickname “Neverkusen”, but Daum’s contributions arguably laid the foundations for their success. He was guest of honour at the celebrations.
“Christoph changed a lot of things here in terms of processes and internal structure. Under him Bayer 04 have become the biggest rival of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund,” said Leverkusen great Rudi Völler.
Daum was tipped to become Germany’s national team coach after the team’s disappointing performance at the 2000 European Championships, but his personal life came under scrutiny after long-time rival Bayern Munich’s Uli Hoeness suggested in an interview that Daum had a drug problem, and media reports included cocaine-fueled parties involving prostitutes.
Daum denied using drugs and submitted a hair sample for analysis, which showed traces of cocaine.
As a result, he was sacked as Leverkusen manager and the scandal also ended his dream of becoming Germany national team manager.
“It was a big mistake that I acknowledged and apologized for,” Daum said years later. “Can anyone say they’ve never made any mistakes in their life? Absolutely not. At the end of the day, it’s about admitting mistakes, righting them, and doing better. That’s what it means to be human.”
Daum enjoyed success as a manager outside Germany, winning a league and cup double with Austria Vienna in 2003 and Turkish league titles with Fenerbahce in 2004 and 2005. He previously managed city rivals Besiktas to Turkish Cup (1994) and Turkish League (1995) titles.
Daum returned to Germany after leaving Fenerbahce and helped Köln win promotion to the Bundesliga in 2008.
He later returned to Fenerbahce before going on to coach Eintracht Frankfurt, Club Brugge, Bursaspor and Romania.
“Christoph Daum was a true Bundesliga poster boy. Although he never had a professional career, as a motivator and communicator he helped shape the coaching profession and the Bundesliga at the dawn of the media age,” said Mark Lenz, managing director of the German Football League.
Lentz said Daum “stayed true to herself throughout her career, through successes and after setbacks and failures.”
Daum, meanwhile, remained philosophical about his ups and downs.
“It doesn’t matter if you fall. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall. You just get up again,” he said.
