Tragic — Gladbach
Robert Enke – Railway Suicide: In 1999 Robert Enke left Borussia Mönchengladbach for Benfica.
Careers That Shattered
Robert Enke – Railway Suicide: In 1999 Robert
Robert Enke – Railway Suicide: In 1999 Robert Enke left Borussia Mönchengladbach for Benfica.
Enke left Borussia Mönchengladbach for Benfica. From there he went on to Barcelona, Beşiktaş and Hannover 96. In November 2009 he took his own life — “railway suicide,” as official German language coldly puts it.
Henning Jensen – Died at 68: As a
Henning Jensen – Died at 68: As a player, Henning Jensen won almost everything.
player, Henning Jensen won almost everything. He won the German title twice with Gladbach, the Spanish title twice with Real Madrid, and the Dutch title with Ajax. He also won the DFB Cup and the UEFA Cup with Borussia. He died on December 4, 2017 at the age of 68 after battling cancer.
Steve Gohouri – Died at 34: Steve Gohouri
Steve Gohouri – Died at 34: Steve Gohouri was only 34 when he died.
was only 34 when he died. The former Gladbach defender had been missing for more than three weeks when his body washed up on the Rhine near Krefeld on December 31, 2015. The autopsy found no signs of violence. According to reports, drugs were involved and he had fallen into the river.
Gohouri had played for BMG from 2007 to 2009, scoring twice in 47 matches. Former coach Thomas Brdaric voiced fears of suicide even before the body was found. There were also rumors of debt and ties to the drug scene.
A former teammate confirmed that Gohouri had fallen in with the wrong crowd.
Sad Fates
Marcelo Pletsch – The Brazilian Defensive Wall: Marcelo
Marcelo Pletsch – The Brazilian Defensive Wall: Marcelo Pletsch played for Gladbach from 1999 to 2005.
Pletsch played for Gladbach from 1999 to 2005. Toward the end of the 2004/05 season he was suspended for comments deemed damaging to the club. He became notorious for a brutal tackle on Werder’s Markus Daun in 2003, which kept Daun out for more than six months and from which he never truly recovered. After retirement, Pletsch returned to Brazil, where he ran a pig farm and a trucking business.
In November 2015, police stopped him in Paraná and found more than 793 kilograms of marijuana in his truck. He was sentenced to nine years and two months in prison, at least three and a half of them in a six-man cell. He has continued to protest his innocence.
Shmuel Rosenthal – The First Israeli: Rosenthal was
Shmuel Rosenthal – The First Israeli: Rosenthal was the first Israeli professional to play in the Bundesliga.
the first Israeli professional to play in the Bundesliga. He represented Israel at the 1968 Olympics and the 1970 World Cup, then played 13 times for Borussia Mönchengladbach between 1972 and 1973, mostly as a libero, scoring once. “It was the best time of my life,” he later said of his spell on the Lower Rhine.
“I opened the doors for all Israeli footballers.” In 1997, however, he was sentenced in Israel to 13 years in prison as part of a cocaine-smuggling ring.
Karl Del’Haye – Bayern Ruined His Career: Before
Karl Del’Haye – Bayern Ruined His Career: Before 1980/81, European champion Del’Haye moved to Bayern Munich for a then-record fee of 1.3 million marks.
1980/81, European champion Del’Haye moved to Bayern Munich for a then-record fee of 1.3 million marks. There his career stalled. Under coach Pál Csernai he was frequently on the bench or in the stands and became a textbook case for the accusation that Bayern poach players from rivals mainly to weaken them, not because they truly need them.
Even after Udo Lattek replaced Csernai in 1983, Del’Haye’s prospects did not improve. By the time he left in 1985, the move had done lasting damage. He never again played as well or as successfully as he had in Gladbach.
Hans-Jörg Criens – The King of All Super-Subs:
Hans-Jörg Criens – The King of All Super-Subs: Hans-Jörg Criens died of a heart attack at the age of 59, on Christmas 2019, just eight days after his birthday.
Hans-Jörg Criens died of a heart attack at the age of 59, on Christmas 2019, just eight days after his birthday. The club’s third-most prolific Bundesliga scorer never won a title, but he scored major goals, including against Werder Bremen in the 1984 DFB Cup semifinal, which sent Borussia into the final.