Christoph Daum, a prominent German football personality known for his coaching career, has died at the age of 70 after a long battle with cancer, his family announced.

Daum’s family said he died on Saturday “peacefully surrounded by his family.”

After his cancer diagnosis in 2022, Daum initially withdrew from public life, but later returned to the spotlight.

“Cancer chose the wrong body,” Daum said in interviews and talk shows, using his fighting spirit to inspire others.

Daum won the Bundesliga with VfB Stuttgart and was a coach for 30 years at nine different clubs, with whom he won ten titles.

He was considered the coach of the German national team until his career was shaken in 2000 by his confession of cocaine use and he was fired from Bayer Leverkusen.

Throughout his eventful life, he repeatedly emphasized the message: “You can fall. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall. You just have to keep getting up.”