After torn his cruciate ligament for the third time, he fights his way back: GC-Kempter wants to defy his blatant injury

It happened in the match against Lucerne – Kempter’s only sixth appearance for the Hoppers following his free transfer from St. Gallen. After almost an hour he falls to the ground without any outside influence. ‘I immediately knew something was wrong. I couldn’t straighten or bend my knee,” said the Filipino-Swiss dual national. Until the end he hoped that “only” the meniscus was affected. But with the diagnosis, hope died.

A German got it even worse

“Why is this happening to me again?” I asked myself, and of course I struggled with fate,” Kempter describes. He felt like he was alone in this world with his injury history. That’s why he googled which football players had survived three cruciate ligament tears in the same knee. The search engine came up with the name of Bochum legend Patrick Fabian (36), who tore his left cruciate ligament three times and later his right cruciate ligament once.

Today, Fabian is sports director at Bochum and is happy to be a contact for athletes with a similar injury history. “It requires a brutal acceptance of the situation,” he emphasizes when asked by Blick. Under no circumstances should you take on the role of victim.

Kempter has had no problems for a long time. “I’m going to attack again,” he emphasizes. After two operations in the Berit Clinic in Eastern Switzerland, he is on his way back. He was able to put down his crutches in mid-December. And with the new year the rehabilitation really started. “I feel very good and full of motivation,” he says.

Kempter owes the fact that he has been able to concentrate successfully to his personal environment. “My family and my girlfriend gave me a lot of energy,” emphasizes the Schlieren resident. But his football colleagues were also always close to him. “They all told me if anyone could come back, it would be me!”

Some St. Gallen players were literally close to him. “While I was in the recovery room, a number of my ex-teammates suddenly stood next to me,” Kempter remembers. He was just as happy with a video message from them and when his classification colleagues held his jersey to the camera after a goal. “That was really fun.”

A comeback only next season

That kind of thing is not necessarily normal in football. “But it shows me what a good environment I have,” says Kempter proudly. But even though he feels connected to his teammates and sees them a lot on campus, what he misses most is “the whole feeling with the team.”

Fabian can understand that: “As a footballer you are always part of the team. But when you injure yourself so badly, you suddenly become a lone warrior.” When it comes to rehabilitation, he gives Kempter his motivational quote that has always driven him: “Everything seems impossible. Until someone does.”

The seemingly impossible in this case is Kempter’s third comeback. It will probably be a while before that happens. “My goal is to be ready for next season.”