Jérémy Mathieu, former French defender who played for Valencia and Barça, confessed in an interview with SoFoot that after his forced retirement in 2020 he was trapped in a deep depression that lasted four years. The knee injury he suffered while playing for Sporting Lisbon forced him to abandon professional football, and the former player described how “everything suddenly stopped”, leaving him without the routine and environment that had accompanied him during his career.
The Frenchman recalled that, upon being forced to leave the field, he entered a “downward spiral” that led him to a very low state of mind. “I missed the field, the locker room, everything we had experienced,” he confessed, adding that during that period he had no interest even in football and isolated himself at home, watching television and staying on the couch most of the day. His wife and children were the pillar that helped him overcome the crisis, although Mathieu admitted that he did not seek professional help, believing that he had to face it on his own like a fighter.
Despite the harshness of those years, the former player has managed to recover and now works as coach of the Aix-en-Provence U-15 team. In the interview, Mathieu expressed that, although he could have gone to a professional, he preferred to face the situation with family support and his own determination. Over time, the situation has stabilized and the Frenchman continues his work in football, this time in the training of young talents.