unprecedented mourning across germany.
Germany continues to mourn the loss of Robert Enke
○ All of the Bundesliga matches will be played with black armbands and hold a minute of silence preceding the games of Matchday 13 on November 22.
○ The DFB president Zwanziger and secretary Niersbacher went to the team camp in Bonn. German chancellor Merkel condoles in a private letter to Enke's wife and expresses her sentiments to both Hannover 96 and the nationalmannschaft.
○ Hannover 96 will retire the No. 1 jersey and the number will never be given out again; supporters speculate if one more national team nomination would have given him a life line.
○ "We cannot and will not be able to play football on Saturday" -- the international friendly of Germany is canceled. "Canceling the Chile game is the right thing to do. None of us feel capable to go back to everyday business in this situation. We lost a friend. This is a moment where football needs to pause for a moment. We deeply mourn the loss of Robert Enke," Jogi Loew.
○ Players at the moment have left the camp/are leaving. German captain Michael Ballack and central defender Per Mertesacker knew Enke since they were teenagers; they are completely shell shocked. Jogi Loew was especially moved; the press conference took a pause as Oliver Bierhoff was overcome with tears.
○ The team will meet on Sunday in Dusseldorf after attending his funeral. There will also be a service tonight which includes all the Ballack, Biefhoff, and Loew and "the players who want to be there."
○ There is an outpouring of support from clubs all over including FC Bayern, Fenerbahce, FC Barcelona, many other German clubs have the news of his passing as a headline.
The Unfortunate Circumstances:
Enke went to the regular morning training session with the goalkeeper coach but failed to show up for the afternoon session. His personal manager and close friend tries to get a hold of him - his mobile phone is off. Hannover 96 alerted Enke's wife saying everyone is expecting him to "probably do something grave." 2 hours later, Enke committed suicide at a railroad crossing about 200 meters from his daughters grave.
"Enke had no endogenous depression with acute threat of suicide. There were no indications that he would do such a thing, it was rather a recurring case of depressive episodes with hysteric boosts and latent light suicidal indications. The suicide was deliberately planned over weeks, maybe months."
Press Conferences:
Dr. Valentin Markser, Enke's doctor at the Hannover Press Conference:
"I am still in shock, I first had him in for treatment in 2003 while he was under contract by Barcelona and Istanbul, where he suffered performance anxiety and "fear of failure." I treated him daily for several months (the reason he didn't play much for Barcelona), and then I did not see him until October this year when he slid into a depressive crisis -- which was the reason for his omission from training and games.
He was very cooperative during the daily treatment, and after a few weeks he returned to training and then match practice, which he explicitly wanted. He refused going stationary saying "football helps me to deal with this." Enke finally refused treatment a few days ago.
On the day of his suicide, Enke canceled further sessions with his psychiatrist. In his letter of farewell. He apologized to everyone for deliberately lying about his mental health, which he deemed necessary for carrying out his planned suicide. I did not, neither did the other doctors ever suspect him to be willing to commit suicide otherwise we would have hospitalized him right away."
Teresa Enke, at the Hannover Press Conference:
"It was hard on all of us when he was acutely depressive; he lacked the drive to carry on. And there was always the pressure to keep that under lock and key from the public so he would not loose his job. The recent weeks were hard. but we had made it through his time in acute depression 2003, so we thought we could make it again
I told him time and again "football isn't all there is in life, and there is so much more to live for than football and the national team"
He did not want his depression to become public because of his career and out of fear that the officials would try to take their adopted daughter away, to which several officials told him time and again that would not happen"
"Football was his life, it gave him strngth and the will to carry on. He said 'it was so great to be back with the team, be included, be 'part of it again' at Hannover."
Dr. Theo Zwanziger, President of the DFB:
"Even though we don't want to interact with the public now we know it is our duty.
First and foremost-- my deepest sympathies to wife family, friends, club, and community in the name of DFB.
I watched the Hannover press conference
My highest respect and adoration to Mrs. Enke for speaking there. She certainly conveys a message to us.
We all ask ourselves why the team, the coaches, the players, the team behind the team, German football, all fans, the people of Germany.
I cannot answer that question, but we may never allow a person who gave up so much to be brought to such a decision what made him commit suicide?
Much laurels for his great character
. . .We felt he had dealt with all this. We are at a loss as to why this happened. We can't answer that quetion quickly but we owe it to him to find answers for that to the question why young athletes who are much adored are still able to get into such a situation
But we now must look at today at our direct future on the pitch and beyond. We came to Bonn this morning to reach a conclusion with the team, with the staff and I can tell you that the Mannschaft council and the coaches talked to me.
I witnessed players who were very deeply moved and show true grief and showed that one needs time for that but one result is definite: we cannot and will not be able to play football on Saturday."
More reaction:
FC Barcelona dedicate their cup-victory from yesterday to their belated colleague --
"Our thoughts are with the family of Robert Enke at this time and we wish them all to find the strength to be able to bear the pain" -- Sepp Blatter, FIFA president
"That goalkeeper was part of the club, so he was a memeber of our family" -- Pep Guardiola
"The followers of FC Barcelona mourn the loss of Robert Enke. I knew him personally he was a highly intelligent, most decent young man" -- Joan Laporta, Barcelona president
"Enke showed exemplary conduct during his time in Barcelona. His death is a catastrophy for German football and Barcelona alike." -- Txiki Bergiistain, sporting director of Barcelona
"I cannot believe this happened" -- Michael Ballack, German captain
"After hearing such terrible news, a thousand thoughts immediately invade your brain, but one prevails - why? The answer to that question though, is probably only known to Robert himself" -- Timo Hildebrand, German goalkeeper
"Devastated. Absolutely gutted. sorry, I cannot say any more" -- Rene Adler, German goal keeper
"This news came as a massive blow to me. I would never, ever have thought this possible. I knew Robert as a friendly, loving person and a great sportsman. My condolences to his family. A cancellation of the game against Chile is probably not what he would like us to do. The important thing is that he'll be remembered" -- Uwe Seeler, Hamburger SV legend, honorary lifetime-captain of the German national team.
The Memorial Service:
Click to view
Pictures from the memorial service have been added.