“Tigers” ends triumphantly due to the fact Martin Bengtsson — the protagonist whose real-life story the film is based on — survives.
When he or she was 17 years old and dreamed of becoming a professional footballer, Bengtsson was signed simply by Inter Milan after Chelsea and Ajax experienced also shown interest in him.
He joined Inter’s Primavera team, lived with other academy prospects and has been touted as the following Wayne Rooney or even Zlatan Ibrahimović .
But in Milan, his desire and career unraveled. After nine several weeks in Italy, Bengtsson developed depression within the aftermath of an injuries and attempted suicide by slitting his wrists in the bath.
He was delivered back to his indigenous Sweden to recover, certainly not returned and upon the market from football a year later at the age of eighteen.
Encouraged by his therapist, Bengtsson started writing to process his experiences in Milan and to quash rumors that he left after becoming involved with drugs.
“I was furious at what got happened and that can be a big, big drive in writing, ” this individual tells CNN Sport .
“And while I was doing it, I also understood more and more that this could be the story that’s lacking. No one had told it from the inside. ”
Whenever Bengtsson published their memoir “In the Shadow of San Siro” in 3 years ago, it was one of the first balances of its kind, also FIFPRO — the particular worldwide players’ partnership — did not begin conducting studies into mental health till 2013.
After Bengtsson published his book, this individual moved to Berlin in which he met filmmaker plus writer Ronnie Sandahl in 2011 and the two became good friends.
“I knew Ronnie was an extremely, very good writer — one of the greatest in his generation, ” Bengtsson says. “And so I knew that… it would be an excellent movie… I believed in him. ”
9 years later, Sandahl translated Bengtsson’s tale onto the display as “Tigers, inch which will be released in UK cinemas on July 1 .
Sandahl’s film has drawn critical acclaim and was submitted as Sweden’s entry to get the best International Feature Film at the Oscars this past year.
The film’s name references how caged animals are kept as tourist attractions, plus cage-like motifs are scattered throughout the movie.
Metal bars seem to follow Sandahl’s representation of Bengtsson wherever he goes: on his dormitory windows, in nightclubs and even the stadium by itself becomes a cage associated with sorts.
“It’s true to the essence of the boy fighting to satisfy his dream, getting trapped in the dream and trying to find a way out somehow, ” Bengtsson says, keeping in mind his younger self.
‘Football is all this individual is’
Part of the uncertainty depicted in the film is Bengtsson’s find it difficult to redefine his identity which was entirely influenced by football.
Such was the importance that soccer proved to be the program code with which actor Erik Enge understood plus interpreted the character.
“I acquired this fantastic personal trainer who basically just built my body to look just like a football player, inch Enge tells CNN Sport.
“Rather than just the particular mental way of reading through a script… I was able to get into Martin’s head through actual physical work. ”
Bengtsson’s regimen, as well as his identification, revolved around being a professional footballer.
He’d follow his own teaching schedule for three hours a day, alongside playing at his club.
This tension among becoming the best person player, or the best team player, designed Bengtsson’s relationship with his teammates, in the film and in real life.
Less than 1% of players who join academies at the earliest probable opportunity, at 9 years old, become a professional footballer, according to ESPN .
So close to a professional contract and to defeating the odds, the movie depicts competition among teammates as much outstripping competition with their opponents.
“In the end, really all about yourself as well as your career, even though that you simply in a team, inch Sandahl tells CNN.
‘A funhouse mirror’
Bengtsson’s book plus Sandahl’s film show a side associated with football that is not normally spoken about.
“The globe of football nearly works as a funhouse reflect for topics such as masculinity or capitalism, ” Sandahl states. “It’s practically a global where you buy and sell people. ”
The market of youthful footballers is a multi-billion-dollar industry.
A study from the CIES Football Observatory found that will English clubs alone collected more than $2. 17 billion in between July 2015 plus February 2022 in the transfer of gamers who had graduated from their youth school having been at the membership for at least 3 years.
Such vast sums pounds can somewhat imprecise how young these players are.
“I’ve heard… from people who’ve seen the movie that they can’t view a game the same method anymore because they all of a sudden see boys down there who are pretty youthful and they’re suddenly getting human beings, ” Sandahl says.
Although Bengtsson’s story took place within 2004, the movie is set in the present time against the backdrop of social media.
Social media, combined with the shot of even more cash into football, emotions potential gains made regarding mental wellness in recent years, Bengtsson suggests.
“Now, [young footballers] are in the spotlight in a whole other way today, ” he says. “So I think even though we all talk about it a lot more, the challenges possess kind of outgrown this. ”
According to a 2015 research by FIFPRO , 38% of active professional footballers revealed that they have experienced associated with depression.
Football’s governing bodies have implemented some changes in an attempt to enhance players’ mental wellness.
Under its regulations for the 2021/22 season, the English Premier League mandated that a Category 1 Academy — the name provided to nearly all Premier League and several Championship clubs — employ a minumum of one full-time psychologist. e
Membership owners and coaches, however , can do far more to alleviate the challenges faced by young players by better educating themselves in regards to the “psychological level within sports, ” Bengtsson says.
“[They can start] to see how this enormous pressure… that you work for so much cash and how that impacts [you]. Or simply to step into a good arena and have that massive crowd taking a look at you. What does that to a person?
“And, of course , you can think when you see it externally or when you see this from the fans because, ‘Wow, what a sensation. ‘ It’s also scary to have that. ”
CNN has reached out to FIFA and Inter Milan intended for comment.
‘The price at the end’
Problems are not unique in order to football. Last year, Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles withdrew from your French Open and many events in the Tokyo Olympics respectively in order to prioritize their mental health.
Tennis plus gymnastics feature in two of Sandahl’s other films, “Borg vs McEnroe” plus “Perfect, ” which usually he views as being a loose trilogy along with “Tigers, ” discovering the psychology behind sports stars.
They each unpack the “tremendous pressure” faced by youthful athletes in their pursuit of greatness, and Sandahl sees similarities throughout each discipline.
“It’s a world that encourages extreme human beings to visit all the way despite a very high cost and [the athletes] are left only with that cost eventually, ” Sandahl states.
“Because everyone who will be encouraging these youthful athletes to go entirely, they’re not presently there when they’re out of the spotlight. ”