Hanover, Germany - Hundreds of German football fans started queueing up from early Sunday morning to gain entry to the memorial service for Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke.

The 32-year-old Hanover 96 player, who suffered from depression, committed suicide on Tuesday by throwing himself in front of an oncoming train.

His death sparked a public outpouring of mourning not seen in Germany since the funeral of the former Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1967.

The AWD Arena, where the memorial service will be held, is expected to be filled with 45,000 people, with tens of thousands more expected to watch proceedings on a giant screen outside the stadium.

The service, which will be attended by the who's who of German sport and politics, is scheduled to start at 11am German time, with the gates opening two and a half hours earlier.

Organizers are playing music, including the songs Time to say Goodbye and Candle in the Wind, as the stadium is filling.

Enke, whose coffin will stand in the stadium during the ceremony, will be laid to rest during a private funeral later Sunday in the cemetery where his two-year-old daughter Lara, who died died in
2006 of a rare heart condition, is also buried.