Ten years ago, professional footballer Hakan Bicici was involved in a traffic accident and has been in a coma ever since. His family takes care of him. His passion for football remains.

In the living room of former Hannover 96 star Hakan Bicici, budgies fly around freely and chirp, his mother Fatma is in the kitchen preparing dinner. Bicici sits in his chair and watches the action. It seems as if he would get up at any moment and say something. But he cannot.

The former professional football player has been in a vegetative state for ten years. In a serious car accident in Turkey on 26 November 2012, he suffered injuries to his head, internal bleeding and broken legs and ribs. “He was practically halfway through,” says aunt Hülya Häseler. The Turkish woman is only a few years older than her nephew. Bicici and she grew up “like brothers and sisters”. Twelve days passed before the then 42-year-old was flown from Turkey to Germany after his accident and treated there.

Since then, the former midfielder has been cared for by his family, especially by his mother Fatma Bicici. The 70-year-old lives with her son in a barrier-free flat in Hanover. In addition to the nursing service and regular visits from other family members, she takes care of him alone. She gently strokes his hair and speaks to her 52-year-old son in such a loving tone that his gaze never leaves her. “Hello, sweetheart,” mother Fatma says to him. “Give me a kiss,” she whispers to him in Turkish. Her son fixes her with his gaze.

Bicici’s family came to Germany from Turkey in 1965. He was one of the first players in Hanover with an immigrant background to make it into professional football. The most important club of his career was Hannover 96, for whom he played in 82 Second Division matches. Other stations were TuS Celle FC, Eintracht Braunschweig and the Turkish clubs Antalyaspor and Gençlerbirligi Ankara.

Bicici was known as a dribbling artist. A quality that former Braunschweig coach Benno Möhlmann still remembers today: “He was a great footballer, technically very skilled and strong on the dribble. He helped us a lot that year in Braunschweig,” says the 68-year-old former coach. In encounters with opposing teams, he says he was particularly impressed by Bicici’s recognition by other players. “No matter who we played against in the Regionalliga back then: If the opponent also had one or more players with Turkish roots, they always had a lot of respect for Hakan,” says Möhlmann. “He had made it into professional football, so he enjoyed strong recognition.”

Bicici’s family was always very proud of his performance, especially his grandfather: “His grandpa came to every game. He even went by taxi, even if he had to take it all the way to Bremen,” recalls Bicici’s aunt. Even today, the family has not lost its fascination for football. They regularly attend 96 home games.

The family also goes to the theatre or concerts together and does a lot of things with Bicici that he used to enjoy. They sometimes observe that he reacts and watches attentively. Bicici is still known on some sports fields. The family is currently still in contact with Frank Obermeyer, the team manager of the traditional team, and the former 96 midfielder Martin Groth. “He always comes to visit him every few months. But he always leaves a bit sad, too,” says Häseler.

Bicici’s daughter is also a regular visitor. He reacts very strongly to her name. When his family talks about her, he enlarges his eyes and raises his brows wide. “If she can’t come over, they make video calls,” Häseler reports.

Bicici has already undergone many therapies. In addition to regular appointments with speech therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists, the family has already made several fancy attempts such as training sessions in Slovakia or dolphin therapy in Turkey. Even if they brought success for the moment, they did not last in the long run.

The family’s aim, he says, is to give the ex-footballer a better quality of life. His aunt tells of situations in the stadium where Bicici finds himself in a group of standing people all gathered around him. “Like the bunny in the pit,” she describes this occurrence. “At that moment, yes, I notice he starts sweating, his head gets all red, his body reacts.” In these situations, aids such as an electric chair, in which he can stand up, are a real help.

Even though it has not yet been possible to determine medically whether and how much Bicici notices his surroundings, his family is certain: “I don’t believe that he doesn’t notice anything,” says Hatice Moormann, the other aunt. If something gets too much for him, he simply closes his eyes. He grins, holds his mother’s hand or sometimes cries, Hülya Häseler reports. As a result, there are always interactions with him that make his family happy.

At times it seems as if Bicici wants to take part in the conversation, as if something would come out of his mouth at any moment. But it does not happen. Occasional noises and coughs showed that he is there. “It doesn’t happen at the push of a button,” Häseler clarifies. But it is important to understand that Hakan Bicici is still there, he says. “He is warm and his heart is beating,” she says. And as she does so, she looks deep into her nephew’s eyes. And he looks back.