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Bayern coach in hospital: Unhealthy work ethic
Bayern coach Vincent Kompany was taught early on that as a black man he had to work harder than others. Now he collapsed during training. more...
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T hese are always difficult times for football fans when the FC Bayern coach is not only capable and competent, but also a likeable person. There should be a rule that only people who, as a matter of principle, honk at the people in front of them at red lights are allowed to work at FCB.
Now Vincent Kompany is definitely not such a man, but rather a withdrawn, approachable, empathetic person who also seems to be terribly uncomfortable with the whole spotlight around him.
Technically, Vincent Kompany is beyond any doubt, but what sets him apart is his ability to think straight away, even off the pitch. In May 2026, it was brought to his attention that his colleague José Mourinho had trivialized racist insults made by one of his players.
Unlike other colleagues, he didn't duck away or get lost in generalities, but rather improvised a twelve-minute speech that was both clear and warm-hearted, and is one of the best anti-racist statements that have come out of the field of football in recent years.
For this speech, among other things, he was awarded the Bavarian Prime Minister's Prize; Of all things, one might say, in view of the ever-increasing racism from the Union parties. Kompany also manages to do that: to be recognized for his wokeness by the Bavarian culture fighter.
Vincent Kompany is currently missing from the sidelines: he collapsed twice within a short space of time and is being treated in a clinic. After the first collapse, he himself expressed suspicion that he had spread a viral infection. More details are not known and do not need to be known.
The background is certainly the story that Vincent Kompany once told about his blonde, blue-eyed mother: She had told him that people with a different skin color had twice as hard a time finding a job in this society. And that's why he decided to work twice as hard.
The performance ethos in professional sports has certainly not helped to mitigate this deeply unhealthy attitude. It also didn't help that this type of self-destruction is actually being promoted by politicians: There is still no price for people who stay at home with their asses when they are sick - although given all the whiplash rhetoric from the Union parties, this now also requires courage.