FRANKFURT — A goalkeeper expected to play for Germany at the World Cup died after being hit by a train in what police suspect is a suicide. He was 32.
Robert Enke played for the German club Hannover. Team president Martin Kind confirmed his death, and German police later released a statement saying a man had been fatally injured after being struck by a train Tuesday night.
The statement said the victim was “apparently national team goalkeeper Robert Enke” and “first police indications are that it was a suicide.”
“You expect many things, but not something like that,” Kind said. “I do not know how and why it happened, but I do not think that it had anything to do with football.”
Enke had been diagnosed with a bacterial stomach ailment and missed nine weeks before returning 11 days ago and playing two Bundesliga games.
He had not been selected for Germany’s exhibition games against Chile on Saturday and Ivory Coast on Wednesday. But coach Joachim Loew had said Enke remained the leading candidate to be Germany’s goalie at next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
“We are speechless,” German soccer federation president Theo Zwanziger said.
Enke and his wife lost their 2-year-old daughter to a heart ailment in 2006. The couple adopted a girl in May, who is now 8 months old.
National team manager Oliver Bierhoff said: “We are all shocked. We can’t find the words.”
Enke played eight matches for Germany, making his debut in a 1-0 loss to Denmark in 2007. His last international game was a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan on Aug. 12.
Enke made 196 Bundesliga appearances and also played for Borussia Moenchengladbach after starting his career in East Germany at Jena. His career included several foreign clubs, among them CD Teneriffa, Fenerbahce, Barcelona and Benfica.
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