A professional football player from the late 1990s to the early 2010s, Stéphane Dalmat had a turbulent career. For more than 15 years, he went through 11 different clubs, including Lens, OM, PSG, Inter Milan and Tottenham. After his career, he decided to quit football, before beginning a long descent into hell.
Happy Birthday, Stéphane Dalmat! #THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/GGoAR8oyB8
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 16, 2021
In an interview with Parisian and published on Friday, February 17, the 44-year-old man revealed that he had fallen into alcohol and depression, a few months after stopping his career. “At first, I took advantage then, for almost a year, I sank,” he said before continuing: “My wife had left and I was alone in my house in Bordeaux. thought, I did anything with dark thoughts. I didn’t like myself. So I started drinking on my own. And pretty soon, my daily life was waking up, champagne all day to get drunk and sleep. I was all the way down.”
Stéphane Dalmat: “I stayed in a coma for six days”.
Despite his stint in many clubs, Stéphane Dalmat could not count on his former teammates to support him. Indeed, the sportsman had kept very few contacts from his years in the field. He recalled: “The phone did not answer, but I was always apart in this environment where I did not seek to make friends. In sixteen years of career, I have perhaps five friends”. In the end, it was thanks to his first love that he managed to turn the corner and find a much healthier lifestyle.
A few years later, in 2017, Stéphane Dalmat narrowly escaped death. He was the victim of a terrible scooter accident while driving in Bordeaux. “I stayed in a coma for six days and had two cardiac arrests. I almost died,” he said. After numerous fractures and six months in a wheelchair, the former midfielder managed to recover from his injuries. Today, he plans to return to football and create a big club in Tours. A beautiful project that could see the light of day in the years to come.
Stéphane Dalmat © ALPHA AGENCY
