BERLIN (AP) — Christoph Daum, the fearless soccer coach who was denied the German national team job after admitting cocaine use, has died. He was 70 years old. Daum died Saturday at his home in Cologne after a battle with cancer, family members told news agency dpa on Sunday.
“He was a pioneer of the modern game and was controversial and passionate about football until the end,” German soccer federation president Bernd Neuendorf said. “I was able to experience this first hand in a personal meeting a few weeks before his death. He lived football with every fiber of his being.
” Daum’s struggle with cancer was symbolic of his life – even as a skinny young child growing up in the west German city of Duisburg, he picked fights with boys who were bigger and stronger. As a passionate and demanding coach, he led Stuttgart to the Bundesliga title in 1992. But Daum never lifted the trophy again.
Between 1996 and 2000 his Bayer Leverkusen team finished runner-up three times and third once. In 2000, Leverkusen squandered the chance to win the Bundesliga for the first time by losing 2-0 at promoted Unterhaching. Daum said he cried his eyes out.
Leverkusen would have to wait until this year before finally ending its “Neverkusen” moniker . But Daum's contribution arguably laid the foundations for success. He was a guest of honor at the celebrations.
“Christoph changed a lot of things here in terms of processes and internal structure. Under him, Bayer 04 became the bigges.