In the football talk show “Heimspiel”, David Degen opens up about a challenging phase during his term as president of FC Basel, during which he had to struggle with health problems.
David Degen shows his vulnerable side on the football talk show “Heimspiel” and talks about his “intense” bond with his twin brother Philipp.
In an interview on the show, the influential FC Basel figure admits that he went through difficult times in his role as club president.
“I was really struggling with myself – very few people knew about it,” Degen shares. The president of FC Basel reflects on a time when he experienced physical signs that signaled to him: “I have to be careful now.”
Degen assumed the presidency in May 2021 and quickly became the target of ridicule and contempt. The low point came in the 2023/24 season, when FC Basel temporarily found themselves at the bottom of the Super League table. “At the beginning I took on far too much at once,” admits Degen. He is now trying to act more in the background and emphasizes: “FC Basel lives from good people, and they deserve the spotlight.”
When Degen looks back on his time as FCB president, he says: “I wouldn’t exchange the experience of the first four years for anything. But considering what I’ve experienced health-wise and personally, I wouldn’t do it (the FCB presidency). do it again. This has nothing to do with FCB, but rather with my personal experiences.”
As president, Degen still carries the label of ex-footballer. “I didn’t come to take over the presidency at FCB as an average footballer. I knew exactly what I was doing and what I was signing for.”
-After overcoming the health challenges, Degen shares that he only talked to a few people about it and solved most things within himself. He managed to address his worries by being “very, very hard” on himself.
There is a lot of hard work behind Degen’s path as a footballer. When he looks back on his career, he says: “The problem I had was that I thought I had to help the coach to succeed.” In today’s style of play, a player like him could be better integrated into a team than when hierarchies were more important.
As a player, Degen was always vocal about his thoughts. His twin brother Philipp, who played for clubs like Liverpool and Dortmund, had a different approach. “My brother could accept that; he was much more of a soldier than I was. I was more of a boss.”
If he could choose one of the two Degens as a player for FC Basel, he would choose a mixture of the two. “Today there is a desire for certain characters in football. I would like to have a mixture of my brother and myself in my team. We need that in football.” While FC Basel has one or two players with such qualities, they still need more.
David shares a close relationship with his twin brother Philipp. He describes their bond as “so intense” because they are identical twins, from a world that many cannot understand. The Degen brothers generally speak on a daily basis, but their conversations aren’t always just about football – they also discuss themselves as individuals, sometimes strong, sometimes vulnerable.
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