Robert Enke (24 August 1977 – 10 November 2009) was a German football goalkeeper.
Enke played at leading clubs in several European countries, namely Barcelona, Benfica and Fenerbahçe, but made the majority of his appearances for Bundesliga side Hannover 96 in his homeland.
He won eight full international caps for the German national team between 2007 and his death in 2009, and was part of the squad which finished as runners-up in Euro 2008.
On 10 November 2009, Enke committed suicide. At the time of his death, he was widely considered to be a leading contender for the German number one spot at the 2010 World Cup.
Robert Enke was married to former Modern Pentathlete Teresa Reim and had a daughter, Lara, who died (aged two) on 17 September 2006 due to a heart birth defect (hypoplastic left heart syndrome). In May 2009 they adopted a baby girl, Leila. Enke lived with his family on a small farm in Empede, near Neustadt am Rübenberge until his death in November 2009.
Enke was involved with his wife in several animal rights campaigns, and they owned many pets. He lent his face to the PETA campaign against the fur industry.
Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968 in Karlsruhe) is a retired German former football striker, who scored the first golden goal in the history of major international football, for Germany in the Euro 96 final. He is mostly renowned for his excellent abilities as a target man being able to deliver pin-point headers towards goal.
The son of a German utility magnate, Bierhoff played for nine different clubs, in four different leagues. He scored a total of 103 goals in Serie A, one of the best totals for a non-Italian in the league's history. In the 1997–98 season, he was the Serie A top scorer with 27 goals for Udinese.
Bierhoff, however, was never a success in the Bundesliga. After failing to shine in Germany, he got his chance in the Austrian Bundesliga. That gave him the chance at Ascoli in Italy. But it was at Udinese, under Alberto Zaccheroni, that Bierhoff found success and won his place in fame and in the German national team. He then transferred to Milan in 1998, winning the Serie A title in his first season there. After three seasons there, he moved to French Ligue 1 side Monaco in 2001 for one year, before moving back to Serie A to play for Chievo Verona, where he retired at the end of the 2002–03 season. In his last ever game, he scored a hat-trick for Chievo Verona in a 3–4 defeat to Juventus.
Arnold Jan Bruggink (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɑr.nɔlt ˈjɑn ˈbrʏ.ɣɪŋk]) (born 24 July 1977 in Almelo, Overijssel) is a former Dutch striker and occasional midfielder.
He won the Dutch Talent of the Year award in 2000 while playing for PSV Eindhoven and won three league titles and two Supercups with the club, as well as appearing in the UEFA Champions League. He had moved to PSV from FC Twente, where he had been the club's leading goalscorer in the 1995–96 season.
After six seasons in Eindhoven, he moved to Spanish club RCD Mallorca in 2003, where he played in the UEFA Cup but he moved back to his homeland after just one season. He joined SC Heerenveen and spent two seasons playing for them in the Eredivisie and in two successive UEFA Cup campaigns, before again heading abroad when he joined German side Hannover 96 in 2006. He left the club after his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2009–10 season.
Bruggink made two appearances for the Dutch national team in 2000: a World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland on 2 September and a friendly against Spain on November 15.