Christoph Daum: Obituary for a remarkable person

The story of Daum and Leverkusen began in the summer of 1996. Daum, who was working as a columnist for kicker during the European Championship in England, actually wanted to take a year off after two successful but also exhausting years at Besiktas. But Bayer 04 had to make a fresh start after avoiding relegation to the second division at the last minute. General manager at the time, Reiner Calmund, finally convinced Daum while still in England to move to Leverkusen.

“A milestone in the development of Bayer 04”

The signing of the Zwickau native proved to be a masterstroke. With Daum, a new era began at the club. “It was a milestone in the development of Bayer 04,” said Rudi Völler. “Christoph changed a lot of things here in terms of processes and internal structure. Under him, Bayer 04 became the biggest competitor to Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Christoph achieved an incredible amount here and got things rolling.” In an interview with Werkself Magazine, Daum himself later described his four years at the helm as his “best time in terms of coaching” and Bayer 04 as “the best club I've ever had the honour of working for”.

Daum began his coaching career at Köln, with whom he twice finished as runner-up in the Bundesliga at the end of the 1980s. He won his first major title a few years later with VfB Stuttgart, leading them to Bundesliga glory in 1992. He also went on to win several titles with Besiktas, lifting the league, cup and Super Cup in Turkey.

In Leverkusen, the work with Calmund, Völler, football department head Kurt Vossen, Bayer AG sports representative Jürgen von Einem and later also with managing director Wolfgang Holzhäuser quickly bore fruit. In his very first season in 1996/97, Daum led the Werkself to second place and the club’s first Champions League qualification. And he achieved this with a team that was not necessarily packed with stars. Daum made Jens Nowotny, the young newcomer from Karlsruhe, captain and defensive leader. Hans-Peter Lehnhoff and Jan Heintze, both 33 years old at the time, were once again in top form, with the coach calling them the “oldest wing-backs in the world”.

More than a great motivator

Daum's enthusiasm was infectious, because you could feel how passionate he was about his subject. Because he conveyed so much passion, so much conviction, so much energy in his vivid language, which everyone understood and which took everyone along with him. But he was not just the great motivator who loved the limelight, he was also the great football expert. The meticulous worker and perfectionist with high standards. And there was always the quiet, thoughtful, sensitive Daum, who gave his first exhibition as a talented painter at 17 and wanted to study art. He was not only a gifted storyteller and entertainer, but also an attentive listener.

Above all, he always saw himself as a fighter. Born in the Ore Mountains of what was then East Germany, Daum spent his childhood and youth in the Ruhr area. In Duisburg-Beeck, “the lanky guy with the thin arms” liked to lend a hand at home, helping his father and brother with hammering, screwing and welding, as he recalled in his autobiography Immer am Limit. Daum took up football, played for Viktoria Beeck and trained on pitches made of blast furnace slag. He then joined Eintracht Duisburg and even caught the eye of Leverkusen in 1975 as a terrier-like defender. The club had just been promoted to the second division and invited Daum to a trial training session, but the move came to nothing. It was another 21 years until a deal finally came to fruition.

Leverkusen was ‘Daum Town’

Daum led Bayer 04 to three runners-up finishes and three appearances in the Champions League in his four years at the helm. His record is impressive: 76 wins, 44 draws and 24 defeats in 144 Bundesliga matches. It’s no wonder that the Werkself achieved their biggest victories in the club's history under him as head coach, with the 9-1 win at Ulm and the 8-2 away thrashing of Borussia Mönchengladbach. Players such as Nowotny, Carsten Ramelow, Emerson, Zé Roberto and Michael Ballack developed into international and world-class players under Daum. The fans were at his feet; in Leverkusen in 1999, they stuck stickers with the words ‘Daum Town’ on street signs. Even 20 years later, they voted him, the former Köln player, the most popular coach in Bayer 04’s Bundesliga history.

However, Daum also experienced his most painful defeat in Leverkusen – the 2-0 loss at Unterhaching, where Bayer 04 gave up what was thought to be a certain title on the last matchday of the 1999/2000 season. After the game, Daum confessed that he had “cried his eyes out”, together with his then 13-year-old son Marcel, who now works in Bayer 04’s coaching team as an analyst.

A few months later, the most difficult time in Daum's career began. He was set to become Germany coach, but a positive hair sample shattered his dream in October 2000. The cocaine affair cost him his job in Leverkusen, and of course his job with the German Football Association. Daum called his drug use the biggest mistake of his life. This phase of his career takes up over 50 pages in his autobiography. It is an open, intense reappraisal in which Daum takes a hard look at himself. In a documentary about him, which Sky broadcast for his 70th birthday last year, Daum says a touching sentence when looking back on this time: “Sure, I would have liked to have left some things out, but they are part of my CV - that's what you call a life.”

Honorary guest at title celebrations

Life confronted him with a new challenge for his final two years, and Daum was also very open about his lung cancer diagnosis. He said of his illness: “I have an uninvited guest in my body that I have to constantly fight against.” Last season, Daum was a welcome guest at the BayArena. He sat in the stands for the match between his former clubs Bayer 04 and VfB Stuttgart in April and was also in demand as a TV pundit. And as always on his visits to Leverkusen, the fans greeted him with warm applause. Daum also attended the final match of the season against Augsburg, including the presentation of the Bundesliga Meisterschale and subsequent celebrations, as a guest of honour. “I'm incredibly happy for my son Marcel and Bayer Leverkusen,” he later said in an interview. “Now the circle that we may have started more than 20 years ago has been completed.”

Immediately after the decisive match against Werder Bremen, Werkself coach Xabi Alonso also thought of Daum in the greatest moment in the club's history. “The title doesn't just mean something to me, not just to the club, the team or the fans. I remember coaches like Christoph Daum, Klaus Toppmöller, Roger Schmidt and some other coaches. They have also fought for this title, and I want to share this championship trophy with them. It's a story.”

Daum passed away on Saturday surrounded by his family. His services to Bayer 04 will never be forgotten. The club will remember him as a great coach, a good friend and a wonderful person.