Careers That Shattered
Krzysztof Nowak: Wolfgang Wolf, hard as nails during
Krzysztof Nowak: Wolfgang Wolf, hard as nails during a 248-game Bundesliga playing career for Kaiserslautern, could barely hold back the tears.
a 248-game Bundesliga playing career for Kaiserslautern, could barely hold back the tears. In November 2002, at the final home game in the old Elsterweg stadium before the move to the Volkswagen Arena, the Wolfsburg coach pushed his gravely ill player Krzysztof Nowak in a wheelchair around the pitch. By then the Pole had already been ravaged by ALS, an incurable disease of the motor nervous system.
His usual place on home matchdays was by the dugout.
By that time his muscles could no longer
By that time his muscles could no longer do their work and his wife Beata had to sign autographs for him.
do their work and his wife Beata had to sign autographs for him. Help did come: after a home match against Bayern in April 2002, Bayern’s officials around Uli Hoeneß immediately promised support in the form of a benefit game. A foundation was set up in May 2002 and later raised 400,000 euros.
Nowak described his first symptoms as numbness and weakness.
Training became harder and harder. On February 10, 2001 he played his last of 83 Bundesliga matches.
Soon afterwards the diagnosis was made public. He visited doctors in Germany, the Netherlands, the USA and Malaysia — about 100 in all.
None could help.
Krzysztof Damian Nowak died on May 26, 2005 in Wolfsburg at the age of 29. Damned ALS.
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Sad Fates
Junior Malanda: the Belgian-Congolese midfielder was late. H...
Junior Malanda: the Belgian-Congolese midfielder was late.
Junior Malanda: the Belgian-Congolese midfielder was late. Having missed the Wolves’ departure for a training camp in Cape Town because he wanted to collect his Playstation, he tried to make up time on the way to Braunschweig airport. The attempt ended fatally.
In rain and high winds the Volkswagen left the road and Malanda, sitting in the back and not wearing a seatbelt, was flung from the vehicle and died instantly.
His team-mate Anthony D’Alberto, who was driving, survived seriously injured. The news spread through Wolfsburg like wildfire and more than a thousand fans gathered at the Volkswagen Arena for a memorial march.
Malanda’s short Wolfsburg story reads like a catalogue
Malanda’s short Wolfsburg story reads like a catalogue of cruel interruption.
of cruel interruption. He made his Bundesliga debut only in February 2014, was then often left unused or injured, and became a nationwide target of mockery after missing from less than a metre in the season opener at Bayern in 2014/15. A week later he blew another huge chance against Frankfurt. “You can see Junior’s disappointment,” coach Dieter Hecking said afterwards.
He would never score for Wolfsburg. His final appearance came on December 20, 2014 against Cologne.
Five weeks later Wolfsburg faced Bayern again, in the first match after his death.
The occasion turned into one of the most emotional acts of remembrance in Bundesliga history, with sustained applause instead of silence, a huge choreography, and later a cup final victory in shirts marked with a green heart and Malanda’s number 19. Wolfsburg dedicated the title to him.