On the evening of May 23, the unfortunate news circulated on Chinese social media: Milian Madakovic, a Serbian foreign aid who had played for Shandong Luneng and Jiangsu Shuntian in the Chinese Super League, was found shooting himself in an apartment in Belgrade.
Former Chinese Super League foreign aid Milian committed suicide in his apartment
The tragedy reportedly occurred in the apartment of Milian's girlfriend Ivana, who committed suicide with his mother's pistol after leaving a sentence of "I don't want to endure anymore", and Milian's girlfriend then ran out of the apartment to call the police. Ivana revealed that her boyfriend had been struggling with depression before she died.
Milian Madakovich
Born in 1982, Milian played for more than a dozen clubs in his career and played for the 2008 Olympic team of Serbia at the Beijing Olympic Games. In the summer of 2008, Milian joined Shandong Luneng and scored 8 goals in 17 appearances in the second half, helping Luneng win the Chinese Super League championship. In 2012, he returned to China to join Jiangsu Sainty, scoring 1 goal in 5 appearances. After leaving the Chinese Super League, Milian played for several teams, retiring from OFK Belgrade in 2017.
Although the high professionalization and commercialization of professional football have brought about the vigorous development and great influence of football, players can easily cause depression tendencies under the closed training environment, tense game state and excessive expectations of fans. According to a detailed study conducted by the International Federation of Professional Footballers in 2015, 38% of active players and 35% of retired players have suffered from depression or anxiety at some stage. In April, the International Federation of Professional Footballers warned that the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic would jeopardize the mental health of players.
Both Robert Enke and Spielberg committed suicide due to depression
In 2009 and 2011, German international Robert Enke and Welsh men's football coach Spide both committed suicide due to depression, shocking the world of football. In fact, there are many fans familiar with the stars, but also suffered from depression, but eventually out of the haze.
Juventus star Buffon personally admitted in an interview, "Between December 2003 and June 2004, I have been battling depression", fortunately, Buffon finally came out and led Juve and the Italian national team to more honors.
Pesoto
Pessotto, another Juventus hero, struggled to accept the team's relegation due to the phone-gate incident in 2006, and the marriage with his wife at that time also changed, and eventually suffered from severe depression. On 27 June 2006, he jumped from his office on the fourth floor of the Juve Club Building, but fortunately he was rescued in time to get out of danger. Now out of depression, he has become the director of Juve's youth department.
Among the many cases of overcoming depression, England star Aaron Lennon is undoubtedly one of the most inspiring figures.
Lennon
On April 30, 2017, the young Lennon suffered from depression due to a bad career, showed some suicidal tendencies, and was eventually controlled by the police and sent to the hospital for observation and treatment. It wasn't until New Year's Eve 2018 that Lennon announced that he had recovered and returned to the greenery. In September 2018, Lennon also scored his first league goal since March 2016.
After recovering, Lennon will often attend some public welfare activities related to mental health in addition to competition and training. In March 2019, Lennon said in an exclusive interview with the British media that there are still many players who are still battling depression and anxiety, but out of some concerns, many players are reluctant to communicate with their families and the outside world, "I have talked to some players, I will not say who they are, but I gave them some advice".
"They want to know what I've been through and where to go for help," Lennon said. But there are also players who are reluctant to ask anyone for assistance, just like me back then. ”
For example, Spieder could not see a sign of illness, and even talked and laughed with his friends in the studio before committing suicide, but in fact, he was not only unable to face the illness, but also unwilling to seek help, so Spieder's former friends and family did not even believe that he suffered from depression.
In this regard, Lennon admitted, "I want to tell those who are depressed to communicate more with the people around them, because it really works." Don't shut yourself off, fighting with yourself will only make things worse, and needing the right help will make you better, not just better on the pitch. ”
Upstream News Chongqing Morning News reporter Tang Hao