Overview

• The 45-year-old former Croatia striker says he has undergone three kidney transplants, needs daily dialysis, and relies on medication to survive.
• He tells a German TV documentary he fears for his life and would have avoided painkillers had he known of kidney problems.
• He describes the systematic use of painkillers in professional sport, saying it is hard to compete without them.
• A German civil court in 2020 ordered Werder Bremen to pay €4.5 million plus more than €100,000 related to negligence by two club doctors.
• The court found the club should have identified and treated altered kidney values from May 2003 after a 12-year legal fight by Klasnic.