"I am an ordinary person - despite the fact that I have a beautiful house." Pavar suffered from depression during the pandemic

Depression is a common mental health disorder. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that about 5% of people worldwide suffer from depression. Footballers are no exception.

Defender of Bayern and the French national team Benjamin Pavard, in an interview with Le Parisien, spoke about the experience of dealing with depression, the football player suffered from it during the coronavirus pandemic.

I used to have a different idea of depression. At first I told myself that everything will pass. But over time, I realized that this condition does not go away. When I came to training, there was no smile on my face, then I realized that something had to be done about it. I am an ordinary person even though I have a beautiful house. Contact with people was simply necessary for me.

When I woke up, I had no appetite. I tried to take care of myself, cooked, watched TV shows. I don't like the word depression, but that was it. Nobody knew about my depression then, but now I feel much better. This test hardened and changed me, Benjamin shared.

Buffon and Ilicic struggled with depression, while Enke and Speed did not cope with mental problems

Pavard is not the first footballer who faced depression.

‎ Welsh football 1win-azerbaycan.com legend Gary Speed (535 Premier League appearances) committed suicide in 2011 due to depression. During his lifetime, Gary did not tell anyone about the problems. After his death, his wife discovered a letter that Speed wrote at the age of 17: I in depression. Now I go to bed and hope I will never wake up. Leslie, Gary's sister, said: "He hid it from us because people suffering from depression are fighting not the disease, but public opinion.

‎ Two years before that, football was shaken by the tragedy of Robert Encke, the German goalkeeper committed suicide. Robert has been suffering from depression since 2003 when Enke tried to establish himself in Barcelona. Since that time, he was constantly observed by a psychiatrist, and shortly before his death, he refused the offer of the attending physician to be hospitalized in a hospital.

‎ In 2020, Atalanta announced that midfielder Josip Ilicic was suffering from depression, the Slovenian had a hard time enduring the first wave of the pandemic and was worried about difficulties in family life. Atalanta supported Josip and gave him time to solve mental problems. In 2022, the depression returned and Ilicic missed matches again this time Atalanta was no longer so indulgent. The Slovenian left the team in the summer and still hasn't found a new club.