But fate has not been kind to the former national player and his family: the 1974 and 1978 world cup participant has been in a vegetative state for almost three years after suffering heart problems. Now flohe completes his 65th birthday. Year of life. His wife ursula wishes him "to wake up again. One always has this hope. And that he is doing well where he is now."
No one knows if flea will ever be able to lead a normal life again. Not his wife, not his son nino, not even overath, who is always affected when he talks about his encounters with "flocke," as the 39-time national player is called. "He lies there, you stroke his cheek, he looks at you with rough eyes and turns away again. And you do not know whether he perceives anything at all." Overath feels this is "sad and tragic. Flocke is such a fine, decent, clean guy. And he was one of our very rough fubballers."
Ursula and nino flohe grieving for husband and father. Ursula visits him almost every day at the rehabilitation center in duren, where heinz flohe lies, is artificially fed and is cared for 24 hours a day. "You come to terms. Heinz has top priority in my life. I have set my life on it." And she is happy when he opens his eyes when you pet him or talk to him. "But there’s one thing we don’t know: whether he’ll notice. He opens his eyes, but he doesn’t fix them on us."
Ursula flohe female but whether her husband is well or not. He reacts with reflexes without any certainty that his family is aware of anything. "He gets something? No one knows!"There remains only the hope, mrs. Flohe informs herself and knows fates of awake coma people, who wake up after a long time again. There are no medical options: "you can’t give him a drug and he’ll wake up again," she explains. "I only live in today because i don’t know what tomorrow will bring." And it is a consolation for them "that he is not forgotten. The turnout is huge, it’s insane."
It is a bitter fate for heinz flohe, who played from 1966 to 1979 for the 1. FC koln was active and helped shape the glory days of this club, for which he played 453 compulsory games. In 1977 he won the cup with FC, and a year later he captained the team to the double. He played 39 games for the national team, scored eight goals and was a member of the 1974 world championship team.
1979 flohe moved to 1860 munchen. In the same year he suffered a complicated fracture of the tibia and fibula and had to end his career at the age of 31. After that, flohe worked as a coach for his youth club TSC euskirchen and for the junior team of the 1st soccer league in euskirchen. FC koln tatig.
Many knew of his weak heart. Also flee himself. In january 2004, he underwent heart surgery in bad oeynhausen, germany. In may 2010 he collapsed during a walk in koln. The medics fought for his life. Flohe was to be awakened again from the artificial sleep into which the doctors had put him. He should leave after 24 hours. He did not. What remains is hope.