Germany mourns goalkeeper Enke
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Germany on Wednesday was mourning the shocking death of national football team and Hannover 96 goalkeeper Robert Enke, who was killed at "in a fatal accident" at a train crossing earlier on Tuesday evening.
German national football team coach Joachim Loew cancelled Wednesday's planned training session while police in the northern German city of Hanover were investigating the death.
Police confirmed that 32-year-old Robert Enke had been killed "in a fatal accident" at a train crossing in the town of Neustadt am Ruebenberge on Tuesday evening. Stefan Wittke, head of the press office of the Hanover police, said it appeared to be suicide.
Enke's car was found unlocked near the railway tracks.
"It is a tragedy," Martin Kind, president of Enke's Bundesliga club Hanover 96, said. However, he did not give any reasons for the ace goalkeeper's sudden death.
"I do not know how and why it happened, but I do not think that it had anything to do with football," he added.
Kind was returning from a meeting of the German Soccer Federation (DFB) when he received the shock phone call.
"You expect many things, but not something like that," he said.
The response from the German soccer community was a mixture of shock and sadness.
"We are stunned and full of sadness," said Theo Zwanziger, head of the German Soccer Federation. "We send our deepest sympathies to his wife and family. Robert Enke was a wonderful person who had been dealt some tough cards."
FC Barcelona, one of Enke's former clubs, held a minute of silence for the German keeper ahead of their Spanish cup match against Cultural Leonesa on Tuesday night.
In Hanover, hundreds of the team's fans gathered outside the club's front offices to light candles and lay flowers.
"He leaves behind a large hole in our lives, not only in Hanover, but for soccer in Germany," said the team's sports director Joerg Schmadtke.
Germany's national team manger, Oliver Bierhoff, spoke on behalf of the team who gathered in Bonn ahead of Saturday's match against Chile.
"We're all shocked," he said. "There are no words."
