Ronald Rëng René

El 10 de noviembre de 2009, el portero de la selección alemana, Robert Enke, se suicidó arrojándose a las vías del tren. Tenía 32 años. La noticia dio la vuelta al mundo y dejó perplejos a sus colegas y admiradores. ¿Qué pudo motivar que el guardameta que estaba a punto de jugar como titular en el Mundial de Sudáfrica decidiera poner fin a su vida de esta manera? Detrás de la vida idílica, de contratos millonarios con algunos de los equipos más prestigiosos del mundo —incluidos el Benfica de Mourinho o el Barça de Van Gaal—, Robert Enke luchaba contra un poderoso enemigo que lo estaba destruyendo por dentro: la depresión. Ronald Reng, amigo del guardameta, reconstruye minuciosamente la vida del portero, narrando con elegancia y rigor la tragedia de un joven que luchó para poder hacerse un lugar entre la élite del fútbol mundial pero vio cómo sus sueños y los de su familia se vinieron abajo cuando la enfermedad apareció repentinamente en su vida.

The enormous success of German football is envied around the world. The national team won the 2014 World Cup in style, while the Bundesliga offers an alternative model through its fan-friendly set-up, terraces and low ticket prices. In Matchdays: The Hidden Story of the Bundesliga, award-winning author Ronald Reng takes a unique approach to explain the history and peculiarities of German football. He follows the tracks of a journeyman footballer, Heinz Hoher, who has been in the Bundesliga all his life, from the first day of its existence in 1963 until now, as a player, manager, sports director and youth coach. We see through Hohers story the wider picture of how German football, and even German society, developed from the ruins of the Nazi era to become the football and economic powerhouse of today. Born in 1939, Hoher became the small-town hero of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a stylish winger and the first to let his hair grow like the Beatles. He witnessed the big match-fixing affairs of the seventies, fought in vain the temptations of so many managers - alcohol and gambling - and realised that, even at 75, his real addiction is still the game. Matchdays does for German football what David Winners Brilliant Orange did for Dutch football.

Ronald Reng traces German footballer Lars Leeses stratospheric rise from computer software salesman to Premiership goalie, and his equally alarming descentPlucked from obscurity and playing in one of the most important leagues in the world, Leese experienced in real life what thousands of boys - and men - can only dream of: stepping out of the crowd and onto a Premiership pitch. At the age of 28, German goalkeeper Lars Leese was catapulted from a minor league football field somewhere near Cologne to a small industrial town in the north of England. Something of a culture shock, certainly, but nothing compared to finding himself in goal for Barnsley playing the mighty Liverpool at Anfield in front of over 45,000 spectators. Rengs narrative is an indispensable antidote to the traditional footballing biography and a unique - and at times shocking - outsiders view of English life. Not since you last read the back pages of the News of the World will you have seen such an accurate picture of life as a Premiership footballer.Eye-opening expose of life at an English club Independent

WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEARWINNER OF THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEARWhy does an international footballer with the world at his feet decide to take his own life? On 10 November 2009 the German national goalkeeper, Robert Enke, stepped in front of a passing train. He was thirty-two years old and a devoted husband and father. Enke had played for a string of Europes top clubs, including Barcelona and Jose Mourinhos Benfica and was destined to become his countrys first choice in goal for years to come. But beneath the veneer of success, Enke battled with crippling depression. Award-winning writer Ronald Reng pieces together the puzzle of his friends life, shedding valuable light on the crushing pressures endured by professional sportsmen and on life at the top clubs. At its heart, Enkes tragedy is a universal story of a man struggling against his demons.It should be on every British football fans reading list Metro

El 10 de noviembre de 2009, el portero de la selección alemana, Robert Enke, se suicidó arrojándose a las vías del tren. Tenía 32 años. La noticia dio la vuelta al mundo y dejó perplejos a sus colegas y admiradores.¿Que pudo motivar que el guardameta que estaba a punto de jugar como titular en el Mundial de Sudafrica decidiera poner fin a su vida de esta manera? Detras de la vida idilica, de contratos millonarios con algunos de los equipos mas prestigiosos del mundo -incluidos el Benfica de Mourinho o el Barça de Van Gaal-, Robert Enke luchaba contra un poderoso enemigo que lo estaba destruyendo por dentro: la depresion.Ronald Reng, amigo del guardameta, reconstruye minuciosamente la vida del portero, narrando con elegancia y rigor la tragedia de un joven que lucho para poder hacerse un lugar entre la elite del futbol mundial pero vio como sus sueños y los de su familia se vinieron abajo cuando la enfermedad aparecio repentinamente en su vida.