World Cancer Day: five players who recovered from the disease

February 4th is considered World Cancer Day, a terrible disease that has caused millions of deaths in United States and the whole world year after year. In soccer there are no exceptions. Many players have passed away after battling against them during or after their professional careers. Some others managed to beat it.

Bulgarian striker Luboslav Penev started his battle ahead of the 1994 World Cup held in United States, in which his country reached semi-finals. One year after, he recovered, and had his revenge playing in the 1998 World Cup in France, after a successful spell in Spanish La Liga.

In mid of the unforgettable era of Pep Guardiola in Barcelona, star defender Eric Abidal had to put his career on hold to face liver cancer. He had to undergo a surgery and a liver transplant around 2012. Club captain Carles Puyol let him lift the UEFA Champions League. He retired after playing for Monaco.

Argentina’s Jonás Gutiérrez had a solid performance in 2010 World Cup under Diego Maradona, but three years later he had to put his career on hold due to cancer in a testicle, which he had removed by surgery. After a long chemotherapy treatment he made his comeback in early 2015. He scored the winning goal to sabe Newcastle from relegation in Premier League. Close to turn 38 years old, he is playing for Argentina’s recent crowned vice-champions Banfield.

Arjen Robben has battled a long time against many injuries, but in his early professional years had to beat cancer too. After turning 20 years old and joining Chelsea he managed to overcome from testicle cancer. He eventually would become one of the greatest wing strikers of the last 15 years, playing the World Cup Final in 2010 and semi-final in 2014.

One of the most recent cases is Miguel Layún. The Mexican defender was suddenly left out the squad for 2019 Gold Cup. Shortly after, it was discovered he had suffered from kidney cancer and underwent surgery to remove the tumor. Since the disease was detected early he didn’t need chemotherapy.