Former Essen and Cologne player Mike Wunderlich spoke about his burnout illness and the worst provocation of his career before the cup match against Freiburg.
Before the first round match in the DFB Cup against SC Freiburg, midfielder Mike Wunderlich of 1. FC Kaiserslautern has spoken about his career so far. In particular, the former Essen player was very open about his burnout illness during his time at FSV Frankfurt in an interview with Sport Bild.
After a very strong first half of the season, Wunderlich was named the best midfielder in the 2nd Bundesliga during the winter break – following his move from Rot-Weiss Essen (25 goals in 50 games) to the metropolis on the Main in the summer of 2010. But with this success came the first problems, as the now 36-year-old reveals: “During the winter break, I received offers from the Bundesliga. My biggest dream was suddenly within my grasp, but FSV wouldn’t let me go, and somehow a world collapsed inside me then. “
New beginning thanks to father and sponsor
FSV’s season also faltered in the second half of the season, going from sixth place down to 13th. “I suddenly couldn’t motivate myself to come to training. In my condition, professional football was no longer a possibility,” Wunderlich recalls, adding that his great weakness to this day is that he can “never be satisfied with anything”. His father then took him to a psychologist, and today he can channel this perfectionism better.
Even after he was diagnosed with burnout, his father remained an important figure, including in his new start in sport. “It was my good fortune that Viktoria Köln had re-established itself, my father was the sporting director and Franz-Josef Wernze our main sponsor. He bought me out of Frankfurt,” says Wunderlich, describing his new start at the then fifth-division club and why he then remained loyal to the club despite offers from higher leagues: “I never forgot that and later turned down others out of gratitude. “
I suddenly couldn’t motivate myself to come to training. In my condition, professional football was no longer a possibility.
Mike Wunderlich in “Sportbild “
From the NRW League, Wunderlich and the Cologne team moved up to the Regionalliga before being promoted to the 3rd Division in the 2018/19 season. However, the path was not an easy one, as Wunderlich describes. In fact, many opponents would have used his illness to provoke him. “Unfortunately, I used to be very susceptible to that. Today I can laugh about some things, I couldn’t in the past,” Wunderlich admits.
One example is the third league relegation against Carl-Zeiss Jena in 2017 – Wunderlich was shown the red card in the first leg for insulting his opponent. This was preceded by provocations. “I was insulted in the worst way throughout the game, the referee heard it all and even calmed me down by advising me: ‘Just listen to it in this game’. Then, when depression was wished on my children, it burst out of me,” he describes the situation at the time. In the end, Cologne won the return match 1-0 without Wunderlich, but they were one goal short of advancement.
“We are living a wonderful dream here right now “
The worst provocation, however, did not come from a player, but from a linesman at the regional league match between Viktoria and Velbert in 2013. The assistant had wrongly awarded a throw-in to Velbert. “The linesman was standing one or two metres away and decided against us. How can you not see that?” I shouted at him. His answer was: ‘You scored your free-kick goal, that’s all you can do anyway, you were suffering from burnout’. After the final whistle, I shook hands with the referee and the other linesman. When the assistant who had insulted me also wanted to shake my hand, I asked him what he was doing. He laughed at me, waved me off and I called him an ‘arrogant pig’,” said Wunderlich, looking back on the game. The insult earned him a red card in the players’ tunnel, and despite a statement from a Velbert player in Wunderlich’s favour, he was suspended for four games.
Now things are going really well for Wunderlich in the autumn of his career. In 2021, the midfielder moved to Kaiserslautern, with whom he celebrated promotion last summer. “I wanted to prove it to myself once again and take the last chance to play in the 2nd division,” the veteran explains the move at the time and looks back on the change very positively. “FCK is actually a Bundesliga club, so many emotions are in this club. We are living a wonderful dream here right now.”
The next opponent will be SC Freiburg on cup weekend, and last year’s finalists can expect an unpleasant task at the Red Devils. “With our crowd behind us, we can make it difficult for anyone at the Betze,” Wunderlich is combative.