Efficient, unflappable, successful: what a man should be like is often determined by stereotypes. The now 28-year-old professional footballer Francisco Rodriguez also got caught up in this role model. Until his psyche couldn’t cope anymore.

Steep career, deep fall

Even at a young age, he was predicted to have a great football career. The Zurich native is the youngest of three successful football brothers. The middle one, Ricardo Rodriguez, is the most famous: he has played for the Swiss national team for 12 years.

In 2014, Francisco Rodriguez made his professional debut for FC Zurich in the Super League. Many observers said the future belonged to him. His performances attracted the attention of other clubs – including in Germany.

He played for VfL Wolfsburg and Arminia Bielefeld. He later played for FC Luzern and FC Lugano. He was in the squad of the Swiss U-21 national team. And even the Chilean national team was courting the dual citizen. All signs of a successful career as a professional athlete.

Then came the shock for the then 20-year-old: in 2015, Francisco Rodrigues’ mother died at just 47 years old. A heavy blow for the family man. But he continued his career.

But when he kept getting injured at FC Lugano, he fell into an existential crisis. “At some point it was too much for me. I couldn’t handle it,” he says. Francisco Rodriguez fell into a depression.

He feels emotions that he doesn’t know and can’t assess. He realizes more and more clearly that he can’t free himself from this low. He finds it difficult to accept that: “As a man, as a footballer, you always have the feeling that you can handle everything yourself.”

Dangerous role models

A dangerous self-perception that psychotherapist Andreas Walther often observes in men. “Men wait much longer before seeking help. Unfortunately, sometimes it is already too late.”

This silent suffering and this traditional role model of men is a possible reason why the likelihood of suicide is three to four times higher than for women.

Walther is a senior assistant at the Psychological Institute of the University of Zurich and researches social and biological factors of depression in men.

The basic problem: An estimated five percent of the population worldwide suffers from depression. At first glance, men seem to be less affected by it – the diagnosis is made almost twice as often in women. But this statistic is misleading because men often do not seek help: “The health system then does not identify them as depressed. This reduces the numbers.”

Unlike many men, Francisco Rodriguez did not hide his suffering at the time: “I had to get help. Otherwise I wouldn’t know where I would be now,” he says looking back. Together with his family and the people in charge of his club at the time, he decided to stay in a psychiatric clinic.

I was no longer aware of what the day had brought, I was listless and very negative.

But this step is not easy for him. Like many, Rodriguez has prejudices against psychiatric hospitals: “I didn’t want to go. It was unimaginable to me that I would one day have to be treated in a clinic.”

At the time, Francisco Rodriguez was suffering from classic symptoms of depression. He described his state at the time as “a rattling around a thought that was incredibly strong.” “I no longer noticed what the day had in store. I was listless and very negative about my whole life. I had no motivation for anything.”

However, symptoms often manifest themselves quite differently in men: tantrums, aggression, drug abuse or risky behavior are more likely to occur. Because these symptoms are less typical, depression in men is often not even recognized as such.

Francisco Rodriguez was given the correct diagnosis. And despite initial internal resistance, he was ready to undergo treatment for his depression in a clinic. The stay lasted a month. In addition to talk therapy, the program also included pottery courses and painting therapy. “That helped me to see the light at the end of the tunnel again,” says Rodriguez. But he still had to struggle with his illness for over eight months afterward.

Today, four years later, he dribbles across the football pitch during training for the Super League team FC Winterthur. He seems to have overcome his depression.

One in three footballers suffers

His openness in dealing with the disease made headlines. In 2020, he gave an interview on French-speaking Swiss television, spoke bluntly about it and thereby broke a huge taboo.

Mental illnesses are hardly an issue, especially in football: “If you’re not feeling well mentally, it’s difficult to talk to those in charge and ask for help. I think that in society, especially in football and competitive sport, all of this is still difficult.”

It’s an illness. Like a normal injury.

But it is particularly needed in football: According to a survey by the professional footballers’ association FIFPro, more than a third of players suffer from depression or anxiety at some point in their career.

The fact that Francisco Rodriguez can speak so openly about his depression is not a given: “It was very difficult for me to accept this illness – that it is even an illness, like a normal injury.”

Today, it is important to him to encourage other people to come to this realization: a year ago, he published the magazine “99 Percent” together with his football colleague Cedric Brunner. In it, footballers are given the opportunity to speak about their mental health.

And a few months ago, Rodriguez launched a podcast. He and his guests often discuss the topic of mental health.

Francisco Rodriguez can now even see something positive in his depression. The illness has made him more resilient. For example, the consequences of an injury are currently causing him problems on the football pitch – just like when he was suffering from depression. That is why he is currently not in the squad of his club FC Winterthur.

A situation that also puts a strain on him mentally. But Francisco Rodriguez is not afraid of a relapse: “I can handle the situation better now because I went through a difficult phase back then,” he says confidently, adding: “Now I know that football is not everything, as I believed in my young mind back then.”