Alphonso Davies: At the end of the tunnel

It's been a year of extremes for Alphonso Davies: contract extension, cruciate ligament tear, doubts, pain, comeback. But the toughest battle of his life has only made him stronger. Bring on 2026.

Meep meep! Here comes Alphonso Davies. It’s the 88th minute of the Champions League match against Sporting Lisbon. A quick high-five with coach Vincent Kompany, a warm hug from Serge Gnabry, a loud shout of “DAVIES” from the stands, then the 25-year-old is back. He was out for eight and a half months – and then suddenly it’s all back to normal. Just moments after his introduction, Davies embarks on a sprint. He closes down a Sporting attacker with determination, wins the ball back and breaks up an opposition counter-attack. The spectators in the stands applaud – on the pitch Davies grins from one ear to the other. Like the roadrunner from the famous cartoons, “Phonzy” is once again not to be stopped. Not by any traps, any obstacle, any opponent. Only an injury stopped him, but in this moment at the Allianz Arena, those 261 days become an increasingly tiny dot on the horizon, and behind him, pain and doubt evaporate into thin air. 

Three clicks

At 36.24 kilometres per hour, Davies had the top speed of all Bayern players last season – for the fifth year in a row. When he was then suddenly stopped, the impact was even harder. On 23 March 2025, Davies was playing for Canada against USA in the North American Nations League. He was struck on the right knee from behind, stayed stuck in the turf with his foot and twisted. “I heard how it clicked three times. My whole leg went numb, from the knee to ankle,” he explains. Despite that, Davies initially played on briefly. “I was full of adrenaline, I hardly felt any pain. But when I tried to sprint, I knew something wasn’t right. I just thought: what the hell?!” An MRI scan brought the dreaded news: cruciate ligament tear in the right knee, with the meniscus also damaged. “When I heard the diagnosis, all the energy went out of my body.” He underwent surgery as early as the next day. “After the op, I woke up, looked at my leg and couldn’t believe what happened. Then the questions came: will I be the same again? Will I play again? What, when…?” The thoughts rushed through his mind – and then all had to leave. “When I showered for the first time after the op, all the emotions came out. I burst into tears.”

Davies’ despair was great at first. He’d just sorted his sporting future at the start of February, ending transfer speculation by extending his contract at FC Bayern until 2030 (“I always wanted to stay, I love this club.”). In mid-March, he scored a crucial goal in the Champions League round of 16 second leg at Leverkusen. He had so much ahead of him with Bayern in Europe and the Bundesliga. The Club World Cup in the USA was coming up in the summer, followed a year later by the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and in his homeland Canada. Davies was full of drive and vigour. And then this stupid ligament tears – and with it, a whole lifelong dream is thrown into turmoil.

Rewind to 13 June 2018: Davies enters the world football stage. Literally. At the FIFA Congress in Moscow, a decision is to be made on who will host the 2026 World Cup. Mexico, Canada and the USA have submitted a joint bid – and a 17-year-old with braces and a bright red jacket stands at the lectern. “My name is Alphonso Davies,” he begins, “my parents are from Liberia and fled the civil war. I was born in a refugee camp in Ghana. It was a hard life. But when I was five years old, a country called Canada welcomed us in. And the boys on the football team made me feel at home.” Davies, already Canada's youngest international at the time, talks about his big dream of one day playing for Canada in a World Cup – and he strikes just the right note with his one-minute speech. His words are moving and are considered a small but important moment in the decision-making process, which ultimately favours Canada, Mexico and the USA. When the result is announced, Davies jumps out of his seat. “Now I'm going to dream of scoring the first goal for Canada at a World Cup,” he said at the time. “I believe I can really do it.”

Bayern, trophies, World Cup

For Davies, summer 2018 was a summer full of dreams. Of the World Cup, of new goals, of a great future. Six weeks after his speech, he decided to join FC Bayern. It was the start of a great career. Four years later, not only has he won the Champions League, Club World Cup and successive Bundesliga titles, but in November 2022 he travels to the World Cup in Qatar with Canada. He ecstatically posts on Instagram: “A kid born in a refugee camp wasn’t supposed to make it! But here we are going to a World Cup. Don’t let no one tell you that your dreams are unrealistic.” And lo and behold, Davies does in fact score Canada’s first World Cup goal in the group game against Croatia.

With the next World Cup taking place in his homeland in summer 2026, Davies is not simply Canada’s biggest football star. His story represents advancement, chances, hope. He’s demonstrated that with talent, courage and hard work, you can make it to the top. He embodies a new self-confidence in Canadian football. Coach Jesse Marsch made him captain. “Alphonso has changed, he’s matured,” he described at the start of 2025. For him it’s clear: Davies “must” be the face of Canada at the home World Cup. “And he’s ready for that. He wants it too.”

The battle in the mind

Back at Säbener Straße, there are around 10 months to go before the World Cup, and Davies finally feels the grass under his boots again. He’s regularly doing laps of the training pitch. While the team train at the same time, he likes to briefly join in with his colleagues. In mid-August, we see him standing with Dayot Upamecano. Davies nutmegs him for fun. “It wasn’t intentional! It’s just instinct, you know?!” he says grinning as Upa threatens to trip him. It’s a little moment that shows Davies is back in the mood for jokes. There’s still plenty of rehab work ahead for him, but the hardest part is done. “I was in pain, couldn’t bend my leg, couldn’t walk for six or seven weeks. I hardly slept at night, woke up in pools of sweat,” he tells. But the toughest battle was in the mind. “The mental healing was harder than the physical,” Davies explains. “Not knowing exactly how long you’re out for. Not being able to play. Having to do the same thing every day… Eventually your mind gets tired and says: I don’t want this anymore.” But Davies has won the battle. “I said to myself: I can sit here and feel sorry for myself, or I can stay positive and fight. And that’s what I did. I knew there was no point complaining.”

Back to the TV studio on Säbener Straße. There is a recurring element in the documentary – doors open that lead to different chapters of Davies' life: his childhood in Canada, his first big move as a teenager away from home to Vancouver, his move to Munich even further away, and so on. “Doors kept opening in my life,” he says. “Each door was a testament to who I really am. Going through them helped me move forward.” Davies has now also gone through the door of the “most serious injury of my career”, an experience that has changed and shaped him once again. ”Above all I learned patience,” he says, and that was certainly not easy for someone who can't go fast enough on the pitch.

With music and handicraft projects, he tried to direct his energy through other channels. He built several pieces of furniture, he explains. But Davies has also put together his own development plan as a footballer. “Only being able to watch, not being involved, week after week – that opened my eyes. Maybe I needed to take a step back to see the bigger picture,” he reflects. “I know now that I can’t take anything for granted. When I’m on the pitch now, I give even more than before my injury. I enjoy playing the sport I love. With people who I love. Being outside, fighting, winning.” Bring on the second half of the season. And then the World Cup. Meep meep!

Article taken from the January edition of members’ magazine 51, here in an abridged version.

How Phonzy will start 2026 with his teammates: