In an interview given to the daily newspaper Marca on the occasion of the publication of the documentary “The Phenomenon” on DAZN, the Brazilian Ronaldo confided in the question of the mental health of athletes. He decided to go to therapy himself.

It’s still a largely taboo subject in the sports world. Even if more and more of them confide in their discomfort.

In recent years, American gymnast Simone Biles, Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka and Canadian goalkeeper Stéphanie Labbé, who worked for PSG, have focused on the mental issues that athletes can face. More recently, it was former Paris striker Edinson Cavani who underscored the importance of psychological monitoring for footballers. The Uruguayan striker said he worked on himself for several years to help him take a step back from his accomplishments and distance himself from the oppressive world of football.

“Many have gone through terrible times”

In a daily interview brandOn the occasion of the publication of the documentary “The Phenomenon” on the DAZN platform, the Brazilian Ronaldo, for his part, trusted in his experience and mental wear and tear. “I’ve been in therapy for two and a half years and now I have a much better understanding of what I was feeling before. I look back and see that yes, we were exposed to very, very great mental stress and without any preparation for it.” testifies “Il Fenomeno”, for which the question of the mental health of athletes is far from being sufficiently taken into account when something moves.

“They didn’t take care of the mental health of the players back then. Today they are much better prepared, they receive the medical care they need to cope with everyday life and the players are studied more: the profiles of each, how they react, how they should react… In my time unfortunately that didn’t exist because we always knew that football can be very stressful,” said the legend of Real Madrid and the Seleção, now a club owner (Valladolid in Spain and Cruzeiro, club of his professional debut, in Brazil).

And to add: “The reality is that we didn’t even know this type of problem existed. This issue (depression, ed.) was totally ignored by our generation. Many have obviously gone through terrible times… C Right , the problems were obvious, but the solutions were not readily available.”

In his documentary, a large number of big names talk about the football epic of national player Auriverde (99 caps, 62 goals): his former Italian team-mates Christian Vieiri and Paolo Maldini (AC Milan), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Argentinian Diego Simeone ( Inter Milan) or his compatriots Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos.