Greece captain Tasos Bakasetas: 'If you’re not mentally well, you can’t reach your full potential'

“I had persistent negative thoughts. I didn’t want to leave the house. I had a feeling of constant fatigue.”

If his footballing performances were all you had to go on, you might be surprised to learn to extent to which Anastasios ‘Tasos’ Bakasetas has battled mental health issues. In the early stages of an impressive career that has seen him play 73 times for the Greek national team, Bakasetas was suffering from depression.

“It’s very hard, especially because it happened to me at a very young age. Everything was going great in my career but inside I wasn’t feeling fulfilled,” Bakasetas explains. “Back then I didn’t try to work out why, even though I knew that there was something wrong, because I couldn’t feel any happiness.”

When his on-pitch performances started to suffer, he was spurred into action.

Recovery, reflection and reaching new heights

Bakasetas credits professional help and being open for helping him overcome his struggles. “The start is always the hardest part, but after I asked for help I started to make sense of what was going on,” he says. Learning to understand himself better and maintain a sense of balance has helped Bakasetas lead his country, too.

“I believe that all this helped me to become the person I am today. Sport is an emotional rollercoaster, and so emotional maturity is very important,” says Bakasetas. “At first, it was difficult for me to captain the team, but as the years go by and you gain experience, you improve on all aspects of yourself.”

Bakasetas is aiming to lead Greece to promotion to League A of the Nations League. Greece, runners-up in Group B2, take on Scotland, the third-place team in Group A1, across two legs for the right to play in the top league of the next edition of the competition.

“We always strive to improve as a team. In time, I am confident that we will become even better. I think we are a very competitive side when we are all focused on our game plan and our duties,” says the captain. “We can do it. It will be a very good challenge for us to compete with the best teams.”