Last DFB duel with Ivory Coast
“We were paralyzed”: After the shock came grief
June 19, 2026 – 10:19 a.mReading time: 4 minutes
In the second World Cup game, the DFB team will face Ivory Coast. The last duel with the Africans was almost 17 years ago – and was used to cope with grief.
After the spectacular opening game against Curaçao (7:1) in Houston, it gets it German national team at this year’s Football World Cup in their second preliminary round game Toronto to do with Ivory Coast. In the long history of the two national associations DFB and FIFA, it is only the second duel between the two men’s teams. The first meeting was almost 17 years ago.
On November 18, 2009, both nations played a test match in Gelsenkirchen. The game in front of 33,015 fans ended in a 2-2 draw. Luke Podolski gave Germany the lead after eleven minutes with a penalty kick before the guests turned the game around in the second half with goals from Emmanuel Eboué and Seydou Doumbia (57th/85th). In stoppage time, Podolski managed to equalize (90+3).
But the focus wasn’t actually on sports on this November evening. A few days earlier, the DFB selection had received tragic news. The game against Ivory Coast was a first step for the German team Coping with grief.
Bierhoff’s tears: “The way I feel here, the players feel too”
Before kick-off in Gelsenkirchen, a short film flashed on the arena’s video cube. To be seen there: scenes from the life of Robert Enke. The football song “You’ll never walk alone” played through the stadium loudspeakers. The fans in the stands and the national players on the pitch were silent and remembered the goalkeeper.
Enke was at a railway crossing in Lower Saxony on November 10, 2009 Neustadt am Rübenberge took his life. The DFB goalkeeper suffered from depression, but always kept his mental illness a secret. His sudden death caused collective horror far beyond the football world.
“We are stunned, speechless and helpless,” said Oliver Bierhoff one day after the shocking news at a press conference about the mood within the DFB eleven. The team manager at the time had to break the news to the team at dinner the night before. A few moments later he was in tears. “The way I feel here is what the players feel too,” he explained in a shaky voice.
Funeral service in the Hanover stadium: “Football isn’t everything”
The DFB canceled the upcoming game against Chile. On November 15th, a Sunday, one day after the originally planned game date, the national players and those responsible found themselves in the stadium instead Hannover 96 a. Enke had been in goal for the then Bundesliga club from 2004. A memorial service now took place in the “Reds” arena, during which Enke’s coffin was laid out in the center circle. 40,000 people took part in the event.