His story
In 2013 Daniel Engelbrecht collapsed unconscious during a league match. The diagnosis: cardiac arrhythmia caused by myocarditis — at 22, his career as a professional footballer was over. He returned to the pitch with an implanted defibrillator, the first German professional footballer to do so. Today he tells that story in his talks Brave Heart, Matters of the Heart and Heartbeat.
„An incredible story.“
2013 — his life hangs by a thread. During a league match, Daniel collapses with cardiac arrhythmia, unconscious and lifeless. As if by a miracle, he returns to life. But that life would never be the same. Myocarditis brings him to his knees. The doctors tell him his career as a professional footballer is over. His heart has not fully recovered. His world falls apart. His dream bursts. He is 22 years old when this blow strikes.
As a child, Daniel dreamed of becoming a professional footballer one day and playing in the greatest stadiums in the world — the dream of millions of children. It is a hard and long road, full of setbacks. Motivation, passion and discipline are what it takes. He makes the leap into the 2. Bundesliga with VfL Bochum. His dream seems to be coming true. He has turned his hobby into his profession. His goal is within reach. His profile in the football world — young, ambitious, tall, talented — is in demand across Germany. In 2013 he moves to Stuttgarter Kickers.
The year that shattered his dreams into a thousand pieces.
„This story moves the whole of football-mad Germany.“
He takes the blow as a challenge. In remarkable fashion he fights his way back into life. Back onto the pitch. Back into the stadiums. He returns as a fighter no one believed in any more — as the first German professional footballer with an implanted defibrillator. That comeback is unique, and it travels the world.
