The Borussia Dortmund player has cancer, and the cases of former stars give him hope for recovery

Borussia Dortmund, runners-up to the German Football League, lost the efforts of its new Ivory Coast international striker Sebastian Haller before he even played one official match in the team's colors, after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, the club said Monday.

"A tumor in the testicles was discovered" after "extensive medical examinations," Dortmund said in a statement, explaining that the 28-year-old striker "fell unwell after Monday morning's exercises" in Bad Ragaz in Switzerland, where the team is preparing for the new season.

Dortmund added, according to its sporting director, Sebastian Kehl, that Haller will undergo "more tests in a specialized medical center. The news we received today (Monday) shocked Sebastian Haller and all of us. The entire Borussia Dortmund family wishes Sebastian a full recovery as soon as possible. We will do everything possible." We are doing our best to ensure that he receives the best possible treatment."

The Ivory Coast international striker joined Dortmund this summer from Ajax Amsterdam to enhance his attacking capabilities after the departure of his top scorer, Erling Haaland, to Manchester City, the English Premier League champion.

Haller returned to the "Bundesliga" after he had previously played in the league competitions between 2017 and 2019 in the Eintracht Frankfurt shirt.

He later moved to the English Premier League to join West Ham (2019-2021), before defending the colors of Ajax, which he signed in January 2021. Al-

Aji performed a superb performance during the last season of the Champions League by scoring 11 goals, including four in the 5-1 victory Sporting Portugal in the first round of the group stage.

Thus, he became the first player to score a "Super Hattrick" quartet in his early days in the Champions League since the Dutchman Marco van Basten's quartet with AC Milan against Sweden's Gothenburg in November 1992.

Ajax's campaign in the Champions League ended at the price of the final, which stopped the Ivory Coast's scoring festival in the main continental competition, but he continued his brilliance locally and ended the Dutch league, in which his team crowned, with 21 goals in 31 games.

Haller scored 47 goals in Ajax's shirt in 65 matches in various competitions.

On Monday, Dortmund appealed to "respect the privacy of the player and his family and not to ask any questions," promising to publish developments "in consultation with the player... as soon as we have more information."

It can happen to any man at any time

Testicular cancer is not new in football, as France goalkeeper Joel Butts recovered from it in the eighties, as was the case of former Atletico Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna goalkeeper Jose Francisco Molina, who also recovered and later became a coach.

Another goalkeeper developed testicular cancer in the person of Argentine Carlos Roa, who was treated for it, but he made the decision to end his playing career.

The Argentine Jonas Gutierrez, the former Newcastle player, played the "hardest game of my life" in 2014 against cancer, before returning to the stadiums after 18 months of absence.

The Australian Craig Moore was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2008, as was the case of Bulgarian Lobo Penev, who was a teammate of legend Hristo Stoichkov in the national team, which finished fourth during the 1994 World Cup.

Benev was forced to leave the field for two years before he resumed his football career, while the recovery of Dutch star Arjen Robben, who was diagnosed with a testicular tumor in 2004 after his arrival at Chelsea, was much faster, as he was given the green light to return to the stadiums shortly after the procedure. Surgery to remove it.

In a statement to him during that difficult period, Robin said, "I was very afraid ... the state of anticipation was terrible. I did not know what would happen to me. Then I heard that the news was good and I felt very relieved," calling for awareness about it because "it might happen to any man in the world." Anytime it could lead to dire consequences... Now that I've recovered from it, I can talk about it quite comfortably."

Athletic Bilbao defender Ray Alvares Lopes was also injured, but he resumed playing on February 4, 2017, in a match at the Camp Nou against Barcelona (0-3) on the same day as World Cancer Day.

It is certain that Haller will not be with Dortmund when the team resumes the new season of the German League on the sixth of August against Bayer Leverkusen, knowing that before that, it is playing the first round of the local cup competition against the third-tier team TS in 1860 Munich on the current 29th.

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