Bayer 04 Leverkusen

This article deals with the former soccer department of TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen e. V., which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bayer AG; for the club see TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen , for the women's football department of the same name see Bayer 04 Leverkusen (women's football) .

Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Football company
Surname	Bayer 04 Leverkusen Football GmbH
Seat	Leverkusen , North Rhine-Westphalia
founding	July 1, 1904 (as a gymnastics and game club 1904 of the paint factory, formerly Friedrich Bayer Co. Leverkusen ) April 1, 1999 (as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH)
Colours	Red-white-black
Associate	Erste KWA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH → 100%: Bayer AG
Managing directors	Fernando Carro (Chair) Rudi Völler (Sports)
Website	bayer04.de
First team
Head coach	Peter Bosz
Venue	BayArena
Places	30.210
league	Bundesliga
2019/20	5th place
home Away Alternatively

The Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH - in short, Bayer 04 Leverkusen , Bayer Leverkusen and Bayer 04 - is a soccer company from Leverkusen in North Rhine-Westphalia . It was created on April 1, 1999 through the spin-off of the licensed player division of the gymnastics and sports club Bayer 04 Leverkusen e. V. and has continued to do so ever since. Since Bayer AG had previously sponsored the club for more than 20 years, it was allowed to take over all shares in Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH (so-called Lex Leverkusen) through an exception, contrary to the 50 + 1 rule - via Erste KWA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH and Wolfsburg ).

The Bayer 04 team - also known as the Werkself - was promoted to the Bundesliga in 1979 and has been in the top German division ever since; only FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are currently participating in this competition for a longer period of time. The greatest successes include winning the UEFA Cup in 1988 and winning the DFB Cup in 1993 as well as reaching the Champions League final in 2002 . However, numerous second places in various competitions in the period from 1997 through 2011, including five German runner-up, the team adheres the image of the "Eternal Second" neverkusen on.

history

The way to the 2nd Division (1904–1949)

In February 1903, Wilhelm Hauschild wrote a letter signed by 170 workers in the Bayer Group to the company's management, requesting that the company found its own sports club. After the company had given its consent, the Turn- und Spielverein 1904 was founded on July 1, 1904 by the paint factory formerly Friedrich Bayer Co. Leverkusen (TUS 04 for short). The first chairman of the association was Major a. D. Albert Mandel, who was welfare director at the Bayerwerk since 1903.

On May 31, 1907, the club's football department was founded in the Wiesdorfer Hof restaurant on what was then Kurtekottenstrasse (now Titanstrasse), and its colors were black and red. Until the beginning of the First World War , the footballers had wandered between different venues until they found a home in the west of Colony II in 1914 : the square on the Dhünn , also called Dhünn-Platz .

In the 1920s, the Turnerverband asked its members to choose between membership in the German Gymnastics Association or in another sports association. This ensured that the footballers who wanted to continue to be organized in the DFB left the TUS and founded an independent club with FV 04 Leverkusen . In 1928 the FV 04 merged with the boxing and sports club Wiesdorf, which had been separated from the TUS in 1921, to form the Leverkusen 04 sports association , which later became known as SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen . From then on there were two Leverkusen works clubs, TUS 04 and SVB, each of which had won more than a hundred national and international titles in a wide variety of sports until they were reunified in 1984.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Leverkusen's footballers played exclusively in the third and fourth leagues until they were promoted to the district class in 1936 , at that time the second division among the Gauligen newly created in 1933 . This year the players wore the Bayer cross on their jerseys for the first time on the occasion of a promotion game against Solingen 95 . A year earlier, unemployed club members had started construction work on what would later become the stadium at Stadtpark , which would become the home of Bayer footballers over the next few decades.

In 1949 Bayer 04 won the Rhine district season 1 and lost in the district final in the first derby to 1. FC Köln , who won the league for the first time. Then the Leverkusen missed a second chance for promotion when they were defeated in qualifying games after the expansion of the league against FC Schalke 04 .

Second class and first class league (1949–1963)

From 1949 Bayer played for two seasons in the newly founded II. Division before the team around Richard Job , Theo Kirchberg and captain Hans Frömmel rose to the Oberliga West in 1951, which was then the highest German division.

The promotion team in 1951

Leverkusen quickly established themselves in the league and made a name for themselves, among other things, as a feared opponent of the frequently favored 1. FC Köln, against whom they can show a positive league record (five wins and five draws, two defeats). The kicker wrote in 1953: “ This time, too, the highly favored 1. FC Köln could not break the law of the series and in the end was happy to be able to leave the dangerous city park area with one point. Will the people from the cathedral city actually enter the game with inhibitions against their old rivals from the color city? "

Although 1956 was the most successful year in the club's history for the club as a whole (winning the German handball championship , winning the German boxing championship in the light heavyweight division), the football department surprisingly went down to the second division with coach Sepp Kretschmann . Kretschmann was able to lead Bayer to seventh and third place respectively in the pre-season.

The most successful Leverkusen goalscorer in the first five league years was Fritz Tiede , who scored 44 goals in 57 league games for the Schwarzroten. The fact that Bayer 04 were relegated in the season in which Tiede had to end his career early due to injury is indicative of the dependency on the top scorer with strong headers. The old and young strikers Emil Becks and Udo Lattek could not replace him, so that Tiede, although he only played five league games in the relegation season, was the most successful Leverkusen goal scorer of the season with seven goals.

and display information about the image

A free kick in the old Leverkusen stadium at the Stadtpark during the league game against SV Sodingen in 1955

In 1962, the previous year the professionally operated Bundesliga was founded , Leverkusen rose again to the top division. From the Oberliga West, 1. FC Köln, Borussia Dortmund , Preußen Münster , FC Schalke 04 and Meidericher SV (now MSV Duisburg) were selected for the Bundesliga in 1963 , and against Leverkusen only one of the ten league games in the 1962/63 season had lost. The remaining teams, including Leverkusen, formed the Regionalliga West , the new second-highest German division , with the best clubs in Division II West . Players like the future national goalkeeper Manfred Manglitz left the club, while u. a. Werner Görts , who in 1962 became the first Leverkusen player to join the German national team, started his way to the second division with Bayer 04.

Regional and Association League (1963–1975)

The Leverkusen team initially struggled to gain a foothold in the new second-class league, so that they could always be found in the table cellar in the early years. In the 1967/68 season she was first champion of the Regionalliga West, but took second place in the promotion round for the Bundesliga and as a result had to give way to the first place, the Kickers Offenbach , to move up to the Bundesliga . However, the team could not hold on to this upward trend and rose in the 1972/73 season from the Regionalliga West to the third-rate Association League Middle Rhine .

After relegation from Regionalliga West, they had a difficult start in what was then the highest amateur class. The team was able to stabilize and at the end of the 1973/74 season they became champions of the Mittelrhein Association League. The associated participation in the German amateur championship ended in the second round. A promotion to the newly founded 2nd Bundesliga was not possible due to the qualification criteria.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen started the new season as favorites and confirmed this by winning the championship again. This entitled to participate in the promotion round to the 2nd Bundesliga in the group with Arminia Hanover (champion of the Association League North) and Union Solingen (champion of the Association League Niederrhein). With a win in Hanover, a defeat in Solingen and two home wins against these opponents, they made the climb in May 1975.

2nd Bundesliga (1975–1979)

As expected, they fought in the first season in the northern season of the 2nd Bundesliga in 1975/76 against relegation and ended the year in 15th place in the table, which meant relegation in the league, which at that time still had 20 teams. In the years that followed, Bayer 04 Leverkusen improved steadily and became champions of the 2nd Bundesliga North in 1979 after the club took over the championship lead on matchday three and never gave up. This triumph brought promotion to the Bundesliga with it. Master trainer was Willibert Kremer . Well-known players such as Jürgen Gelsdorf , Peter Hermann and Thomas Hörster , who were to appear as coaches after their active career at Leverkusen, were also part of the promotion squad .

Establishment in the Bundesliga (1979–1996)

In the first few years of membership in the first division, Leverkusen could not achieve much in terms of sport and fought year after year against relegation, which threatened particularly in the 1981/82 season and could only be averted by two relegation games against the aspiring promotion from the 2nd Bundesliga, Kickers Offenbach. In 1984 the two divided Bayer sports clubs were merged again into one club after more than half a century. From then on, the club called TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen e. V. While the official club colors were changed to red and white, the football department stayed in red and black.

Entry ticket to the 1988 UEFA Cup final

With the occupation of the coaching office by Erich Ribbeck from 1985, the team managed to establish itself in the upper half of the table. The 1985/86 season ended the Werkself in sixth place in the table, which secured them participation in the UEFA Cup for the first time , thanks mainly to outstanding players such as the popular South Korean Cha Bum-kun , who scored 17 goals this season. In the Ribbeck era, Bayer Leverkusen's greatest club success came with the 1988 UEFA Cup victory . After Werder Bremen were knocked out of the competition 1-0 and 0-0 in the semifinals , Leverkusen met Spanish representatives Espanyol Barcelona in the final . The first leg was lost 3-0 on May 4, 1988 at the Estadi Sarrià in Barcelona , whereupon many buried their hopes of winning their first international title. In the second leg on May 18, Bayer also won 3-0; the game went to penalties , Leverkusen won a total of 6: 5 goals. With the Brazilian international Tita , a valuable player left the Werkself when he demanded a better contract after winning the title, but he was denied it. Ribbeck did not extend his expiring contract either. In the same year, Reiner Calmund became manager of the licensed players department, which is seen as an important development in Leverkusen football, as Calmund was to play a decisive role in the further success of the club in the following years.

Andreas Thom after his transfer to Bayer 04 in 1989

After German reunification in 1990, Calmund succeeded in signing GDR national players Ulf Kirsten , Andreas Thom and Jens Melzig . In addition, Calmund intensified Leverkusen's contact with Juan Figer , an influential Brazilian player agent. This made it possible in the following years to sign numerous Brazilian stars such as Jorginho or Paulo Sérgio . In addition, charismatic players like Bernd Schuster and Rudi Völler joined the club, which increased its popularity. With Christian Wörns and Thom, two people from Leverkusen were in the German national team for the 1992 European Championship in Sweden .

In 1993, Leverkusen won the DFB Cup final against the amateurs of Hertha BSC with a 1-0 score thanks to a goal from the top scorer of the same Bundesliga season, Ulf Kirsten. By winning the Indoor Masters in Dortmund in 1994, Bayer Leverkusen became German Indoor Champions.

In the 1994/95 season , Leverkusen again signed Ribbeck as a trainer to build on the successful period in the late 1980s. Despite big names such as Völler, Kirsten and Schuster, the team fought relegation in the 1995/96 season after a negative series in the second half of the season. Shortly before the end of the season, Ribbeck was dismissed and replaced by interim coach Peter Hermann . On the last day of the match there was practically a final between Bayer Leverkusen and 1. FC Kaiserslautern . The final result of 1: 1 meant for Bayer the relegation, while Kaiserslautern had to go to the second division for the first time in its history.

Under Daum and Toppmöller on "Vizekusen" (1996–2002)

Entry ticket for the 1997/98 Champions League season

After the messed up 1995/96 season, Christoph Daum , who had already had successes with 1. FC Cologne , VfB Stuttgart and the Turkish club Beşiktaş Istanbul, was hired as head coach. He changed the game system and from then on let technically high-quality offensive football be practiced, which led to success. Leverkusen were runner-up in the 1996/97 season , two points behind FC Bayern Munich . This was to succeed two more times in the Daum era, namely in 1998/99 and 1999/2000 . Well-known players such as Emerson , Zé Roberto and Michael Ballack joined Bayer under Daum .

On April 1, 1999, the TSV soccer department was spun off into Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH. All shares in the GmbH were transferred to Bayer AG.

On October 21, 2000, Daum was released after it was proven that he had used cocaine . At the time, Daum was considered a hot candidate for the post of national coach and should inherit Völler , who initially only acted as team boss , as national coach after the end of the contract at Leverkusen. However, the cocaine affair made this planning obsolete, as it was no longer acceptable despite an acquittal. The former national coach Berti Vogts took over the sporting management in Leverkusen, but was fired at the end of the season. Leverkusen took a disappointing fourth place.

On July 1, 2001, Klaus Toppmöller took over the coaching position in Leverkusen. It was to be one of the most successful seasons in the history of Bayer footballers: Leverkusen played for the championship until the end of the season and fought a bitter battle for the top with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Finally Bayer Leverkusen became runner-up, as the team could only win one victory in the last three games and was replaced by Borussia Dortmund as leaders. In the DFB Cup , the club reached the final, but lost to last year's winner Schalke 04 2: 4. Even in the Champions League , for which the team first had to qualify before the season, the Rhinelander surprisingly developed into a favorite by defeating FC Barcelona , Juventus Turin , Deportivo La Coruña and Liverpool FC, in some cases significantly. With two draws in the semi-finals against Manchester United , Bayer Leverkusen made it into the final of the competition for the first time in its history, becoming the first team to have never won a national championship title. The opponent in the final was Real Madrid . This important game in particular was overshadowed by an injury misery from Leverkusen's point of view. Leverkusen had more possession of the ball, caused a sensation with an enormous urge phase towards the end of the game and also had more shots on goal than Madrid, but the game could not be won. The 2-1 defeat in Glasgow finally lost this third title, which was within reach, so that Leverkusen ended the season as the first Bundesliga team ever with three second places despite a very attractive style of play. However, Toppmöller was rewarded with the title of Coach of the Year and Leverkusen was invited to join the G-14 , an association of major European football clubs.

Since then Bayer Leverkusen has been one of six German teams that have ever reached the final of the Champions League or the European Cup and the last team to join this group. The others are Eintracht Frankfurt , FC Bayern Munich , Borussia Dortmund , Hamburger SV and Borussia Mönchengladbach .

In 2002, Leverkusen became the first German team after FC Bayern Munich to take one of the top two places in all three competitions (league, cup, international) within one season. The mocking term Vizekusen , which came into use after several finals without a title, was registered as a trademark by Bayer at the German Patent Office in Munich. Furthermore, the club had at the 2002 World Cup with Lucio a world champion and with Oliver Neuville, Bernd Schneider and Hans Jörg Butt each a second place and with Yıldıray Baştürk a third place in the squad.

Ups and downs nationally and on the European stage (2002-2014)

Stefan Kießling is the club's most successful goalscorer in the 2010s (112 goals).

For the 2002/03 season Bayer Leverkusen lost two key players, Michael Ballack and Zé Roberto , who were poached by their league rivals FC Bayern Munich . Nine new players were signed, including Jan Šimák , Juan and França . The former was even brought in as a successor for Ballack. Most of the newcomers, however, were not able to close the gap in terms of quality. After Bayer was in danger of relegation, Toppmöller was dismissed in February 2003, his successor, the previous amateur coach Thomas Hörster , was also unable to lead Bayer out of the relegation zone. Only Klaus Augenthaler , who had already been signed for the next season and who took over the team early on matchday 33, secured Leverkusen with two wins to stay in the league. Due to the poor sporting results, the high transfer expenses and the lack of television money, Bayer Leverkusen ran into financial difficulties in 2003. The 2002/03 financial year ended with a loss of 42 million euros. Under Augenthaler, the team qualified again for the Champions League in 2004. The group with Real Madrid , AS Roma and Dynamo Kiev survived as group winners, but in the round of 16 they were eliminated from eventual winners Liverpool FC.

In June 2004, Calmund resigned as long-time managing director of Bayer’s football department, with which Leverkusen lost one of its colorful personalities. The commercial director Wolfgang Holzhäuser became the sole managing director.

The seasons 2004/05 to 2006/07 Leverkusen ended three times in a row on a table position that qualified for participation in the UEFA Cup. There they reached the quarter-finals twice as the best result ( 2007 against CA Osasuna , 2008 against Zenit St. Petersburg ). Augenthaler had to vacate his place in September 2005 and was replaced by Michael Skibbe , who was dismissed after the 2007/08 season when Leverkusen failed to qualify for an international competition for the first time after four seasons. He was followed by Bruno Labbadia , under whom Leverkusen reached the DFB Cup final for the first time since 2002 . A controversial newspaper interview by Labbadia with the Süddeutsche Zeitung , which warned of a lack of cooperation with Holzhäuser the day before the final game, resulted in Labbadia being given clearance after the 0-1 final defeat against Werder Bremen and he switched to Hamburger SV.

As his successor, Jupp Heynckes was introduced in June 2009 , who immediately set a Bundesliga start record with 24 unbeaten games in a row . Under Heynckes' leadership, Leverkusen finally reached fourth place in the season in the 2009/10 season, and one season later they even made it to second place behind champions Borussia Dortmund . As fourth in the 2009/10 season, Leverkusen played in the play-off round of the Europa League . There they prevailed against Tawrija Simferopol and thus got into the group stage. The team was eliminated in the round of 16 against Villarreal : They lost the first leg at home with 2: 3. Leverkusen won the second leg in Villarreal 2-1, but the away goals rule sealed the elimination.

For the 2011/12 season , Robin Dutt succeeded Heynckes who had switched to Bayern Munich. Dutt's start failed when they were eliminated in the first round of the DFB Cup against the team from Dynamo Dresden , which had previously been promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga, after a 3-0 lead, 3: 4 n. V. In the Champions League they reached the round of 16, but on the last match day of the group stage they missed the group win by beating outsider Genk 1: 1 and therefore met FC Barcelona in the round of 16 , against whom they were defeated by 2:10. The 1: 7 - including five goals by Lionel Messi - in the second leg represents the highest European cup defeat in Bayer Leverkusen's history. After four defeats in a row, Dutt was replaced after the 28th match day by Sami Hyypiä , who was a player at Bayer Leverkusen in the previous season, and Sascha Lewandowski . The remaining games of the season remained unbeaten and ended a mixed season in fifth place in the table.

As a result, the works team went into the following season with this coaching duo. Internationally, Bayer 04 did not have to play any qualifying matches for the Europa League, so they were already in the main competition . In the group stage Bayer 04 played against Metalist Charkiw , Rosenborg Trondheim and Rapid Wien . They suffered a 2-0 defeat against Kharkiv on the penultimate group match day, which resulted in second place in the group stage. Bayer 04 Leverkusen met Benfica Lisbon in the sixteenth-finals and were unlucky enough to be eliminated by the Portuguese, although they were superior in both games. In the league, Bayer 04 finished third after a consistently successful season, so they qualified for the group stage of the Champions League .

Wolfgang Holzhäuser retired on October 1, 2013. Bayer AG's chief communications officer, Michael Schade, took over the management of Fußball GmbH in October. Schade had already been a member of the GmbH's shareholder committee since March 2007.

In August 2013 Bayer 04 Leverkusen obtained an injunction against the controversial ticket provider Viagogo . As a result, it was “legally prohibited to offer tickets for Bayer 04 Leverkusen football matches on the Viagogo online ticket exchange before day tickets for these matches are offered for sale at Bayer 04 Leverkusen or third parties authorized by Bayer 04”. In addition, Viagogo must not give the impression of a partnership with Bayer Leverkusen. Schalke 04 had previously terminated its contract with Viagogo without notice . The DFB also announced that it would examine legal steps against the company.

The first half of the 2013/14 season went extremely well for the Werkself. After 15 games they had twelve wins and finished second in the Bundesliga with a six point lead over Borussia Dortmund. The qualification for the round of 16 of the Champions League was made. In a group with Manchester United , Real Sociedad and Shakhtar Donetsk , they finished second after three wins, one draw and two defeats against Manchester United - including a 5-0 defeat in the second leg at the BayArena. However, the last two games of the first half of the season in the Bundesliga were lost and thus initiated a negative series that resulted in the clear loss in the round of 16 of the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain (0: 4 and 1: 2) on April 5 2014 ended with the dismissal of coach Sami Hyypiä after just one win from the last twelve competitive games . Hyypiä's former partner, Sascha Lewandowski , succeeded him and brought Leverkusen back on the road to success with two wins. In the end, fourth place was taken to qualify for the Champions League.

The second team, who last played in the Regionalliga West and was referred to as the U23 team, was canceled at the end of the 2013/14 season. This was made possible by a change in the licensing regulations of the DFB. It is too difficult for talents to make the leap from the fourth division into the Bundesliga team. Instead, young players should increasingly be loaned out.

Present (since 2014)

Interim coach Lewandowski didn't want a permanent solution. In the 2014/15 season, Roger Schmidt , who had previously worked for FC Red Bull Salzburg and reached the round of 16 in the Europa League , took over the coaching position. On August 23, 2014, Karim Bellarabi scored the fastest goal in the Bundesliga nine seconds after kick-off in Schmidt's first Bundesliga game at Borussia Dortmund - this record was set on August 22, 2015 by Hoffenheim's Kevin Volland in the game against FC Bayern Munich set. Leverkusen won 2-0 and together with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim secured the championship lead on the first day of the 2014/15 season . As fourth in the previous season they had qualified for participation in the fourth and final qualifying round for the Champions League , in which the Rhinelander met FC Copenhagen . Leverkusen won the first leg at Telia Parken in Copenhagen 3-2, the second leg 4-0. In the group stage, the team met AS Monaco , Benfica Lisbon and Zenit St. Petersburg . The opening game in Monaco was lost 0-1; three wins from three games followed. Before the penultimate group game, Bayer 04 were mathematically qualified to play in the round of 16 after Zenit St. Petersburg had defeated Benfica Lisbon. The Leverkusen lost their own game against AS Monaco with 0: 1; In the last group game in Lisbon, the group win was lost with a 0-0. In the Bundesliga, Leverkusen were leaders up to and including the third match day. In the remaining 14 games up to the winter break there were three defeats, six draws and five wins, which meant that they were third in the table. In the Champions League round of 16, the team met Atlético Madrid and were eliminated on penalties after a 1-0 win in the first leg. In the league they were again in fourth place at the end.

In the 2015/16 season , Bayer finished third in the Bundesliga, qualifying for the Champions League. In the play-off round of qualification, Leverkusen met Lazio Rome . In the first leg there was a 0-1 defeat, which could be equalized with a 3-0 in the second leg. In the group stage, Schmidt's team met the teams from FC Barcelona, ​​AS Roma and BATE Barrysau. In the end, Leverkusen was eliminated from the competition as third in the group. In the Europa League, after a 1-0 away win against Sporting Lisbon, the home game was also victorious 3-1. Against FC Villarreal, however, there was a 2-0 defeat away from home in the round of 16 and thus they were eliminated internationally after a 0-0 at home. On March 5, 2017, Bayer parted ways with coach Roger Schmidt after a 6-2 defeat at Borussia Dortmund when the team was in 10th place in the table. The next day Tayfun Korkut was hired as an interim coach until the end of the season. The 12th place in the final table meant the worst placement since 2003.

For the 2017/18 season , Heiko Herrlich was introduced as the new head coach, who signed a contract until June 30, 2019. He lost his first Bundesliga game with Bayer at the season opener against FC Bayern Munich 3-1. In the end, the team occupied fifth place in the table, which entitled them to participate in the Europa League . At the beginning of the second half of the 2018/19 season , Heiko Herrlich was replaced by Peter Bosz . From the first four games he got three wins, including a 3-1 win against Bayern Munich. On May 5, 2019, after just 36 minutes of play, the team scored six goals in the 6-1 Bundesliga win over Eintracht Frankfurt, setting a record for most of their own goals in the first half from 1978 and undercutting them by two minutes.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Football GmbH

The Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH was founded on 1 April 1999 and has since been under registration number HRB 49493 at the District Court of Cologne entered. The licensed player department of the gymnastics and sports club Bayer 04 Leverkusen e. V. was spun off into the company. The Bayer AG is the sole shareholder since the foundation. This was made possible by an exception to the 50 + 1 rule , which allows commercial enterprises to take over the majority if they have continuously and significantly promoted the football sport of the parent club before January 1, 1999. Otherwise, a maximum participation of 50% minus one share of the vote is possible, as the club must retain the majority of votes in its outsourced football department. In addition to Bayer 04 Leverkusen, this exception is applied to VfL Wolfsburg and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim .

Bayer AG holds its shares through Erste KWA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH and does not publish the annual financial statements of Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH in accordance with Section 264 HGB .

Management

The management of the GmbH currently consists of ten people. The chief executive officer, Fernando Carro, is responsible . In addition, there is the sports director , Rudi Völler , as well as seven directors and the head of the legal department. With Völler (1994–1996) and Simon Rolfes (2005–2015) two people belong to the management who were already active as players for the club. Medical director Karl-Heinrich Dittmar is also a member of the professional team as head of the team doctors . The following are responsible:

Surname	vintage	function
Fernando Carro	1964	Chairman of the Management Board
Rudi Völler	1960	Managing Director Sport
Karl-Heinrich Dittmar	1963	Director of Medicine
Fabian Otto	1973	Director of Finance / Human Resources
Simon Pallmann	1977	Director of Operations
Simon Rolfes	1982	Director of Sports
Bernd Schröder	1966	Director of Marketing / Sales
Meinolf Sprink	1958	Director fans / social affairs
Holger Tromp	1972	Director of Communication
Lars Küpper	1977	Head of Legal / Compliance / Associations

Shareholders' meeting and committee

The highest decision-making body is the shareholders' meeting . Since Bayer AG is the only shareholder, it consists exclusively of members appointed by it. These elect the six-person shareholder committee, whose chairman is Werner Wenning . All members of the committee have a current or former (professional) relationship with Bayer AG or TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen . Since July 1, 2018, this includes:

Surname	vintage	function
Werner Wenning	1946	Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG
Klaus Beck	1945	Chairman of TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Bernd-Peter beer	1966	Head of Finance and Taxes at Bayer AG
Gabriel Harnier	1971	Head of Legal, Patents and Compliance at Bayer AG
Michael Preuss	1973	Head of Communications and Public Affairs at Bayer AG
Michael Schade	1952	Retired Managing Director of Fußball GmbH

Professional team

Team squad

The brothers Lars (left) and Sven Bender (right) are currently the only active twin pair in the German professional leagues who play in the same team. Lars has also been the team's captain since 2015 and, at over eleven years, the player with the longest uninterrupted club membership in the squad.

Karim Bellarabi (left) and Kevin Volland (right) scoring the fastest goal in the Bundesliga with nine seconds each, with only Bellarabi scoring his goal for Bayer 04. Additionally, Bellarabi shot the 50,000 in 2017. Bundesliga goal.

Kai Havertz is the youngest player to play 100 Bundesliga games.

The team currently consists of 27 players, 26 of whom were already part of the club before the start of the 2020/21 season. Three of them have already played in the club's youth teams. Among the players there are 15 (56%) who do not have German citizenship. The average age of the squad - as it was composed on August 22, 2020 - was 25.3 years. The age difference between the oldest and youngest player in the squad is 15 years and 121 days.

(As of August 22, 2020)

Squad
No.	Nat.	Surname	Date of birth (age)	position	in the team since
goal
01		Lukáš Hrádecký	Nov 24, 1989 (30)	goal	2018
21st		Lennart Grill	Jan 25, 1999 (21)	goal	2020
36		Niklas Lomb	July 28, 1993 (27)	goal	2008
defense
03		Panagiotis Retsos	0Aug 9, 1998 (22)	Central defense	2017
04th		Jonathan Tah	Feb 11, 1996 (24)	Central defense	2015
05		Sven Bender	Apr 27, 1989 (31)	Central defense	2017
06th		Aleksandar Dragović	06th Mar 1991 (29)	Central defense	2016
08th		Lars Bender	Apr 27, 1989 (31)	External defense	2009
12		Edmond Tapsoba	0Feb 2, 1999 (21)	Central defense	2020
16		Tin Jedvaj	Nov 28, 1995 (24)	Central defense	2014
18th		Wendell	July 20, 1993 (27)	External defense	2014
22nd		Daley Sinkgraven	0July 4, 1995 (25)	External defense	2019
23		Mitchell Weiser	Apr 21, 1994 (26)	External defense	2018
midfield
10		Kerem Demirbay	0July 3, 1993 (27)	Central midfield	2019
11		Nadiem Amiri	Oct 27, 1996 (23)	Attacking midfield	2019
15th		Julian Baumgartlinger	0Jan 2, 1988 (32)	Defensive Midfield	2016
20th		Charles Aránguiz	Apr 17, 1989 (31)	Central midfield	2015
25th		Exequiel Palacios	0Oct 5, 1998 (21)	Central midfield	2020
27		Florian Wirtz	0May 3, 2003 (17)	Attacking midfield	2020
29		Kai Havertz	June 11, 1999 (21)	Attacking midfield	2010
Storm
07th		Paulinho	July 15, 2000 (20)	Wing storm	2018
09		Leon Bailey	0Aug 9, 1997 (23)	Wing storm	2017
13		Lucas Alario	0Oct 8, 1992 (27)	Storm	2017
17th		Joel Pohjanpalo	13 Sep 1994 (25)	Storm	2014
19th		Moussa Diaby	07 July 1999 (21)	Wing storm	2019
31		Kevin Volland	July 30, 1992 (28)	Storm	2016
38		Karim Bellarabi	0Apr 8, 1990 (30)	Wing storm	2011

Squad changes in the 2020/21 season

For the one-day first transfer period of the season on July 1, 2020, four players were added to the squad, with three players returning after loans ended; one player changed steadily. With Ramazan Özcan, the oldest player in the squad ends his career. While one player has left the club so far, Özcan takes on a job in the club's youth division.

Accesses
Nationality, name	position	releasing club (league)	annotation	time
Lennart Grill	goal	1. FC Kaiserslautern ( 3rd league )	-	July 1, 2020
Tin Jedvaj	Central defense	FC Augsburg ( Bundesliga )	Return after loan
Joel Pohjanpalo	Storm	Hamburger SV ( 2nd Bundesliga )	Return after loan
Panagiotis Retsos	Central defense	Sheffield United ( Premier League )	Return after loan
Departures
Nationality, name	position	receiving club (league)	annotation	time
Ramazan Ozcan	goal	-	End of career admission to the youth coaching staff	July – October 2020
Adrian Stanilewicz	Defensive Midfield	SV Darmstadt 98 ( 2nd Bundesliga )	End of contract

Coaching staff

Peter Bosz (here in 2016) has been training the men's team at Bayer 04 Leverkusen since January 2019.

Dutchman Peter Bosz has been head coach since January 4, 2019 , after his predecessor Heiko Herrlich was released from his position after the first half of the 2018/19 season . He took over other parts of his predecessor's staff. As an assistant coach, Bosz also took on Hendrik Krüzen , with whom he has already worked in other clubs. Bayer Leverkusen also signed Terry Peters, another athletic trainer from SC Heerenveen , with whom Bosz had already worked between 2013 and 2016. Since the end of 2016, three people have been working for the head coach in the field of athletics. In July 2019, Marcel Daum, the previous chief analyst in the supervisory staff and son of the former Leverkusen head coach Christoph Daum , joined the coaching staff as an analysis assistant. In August 2020, Simon Lackmann, who previously worked in the supervisory staff as an analyst in the licensing department, moved up to the coaching staff in his previous role. In the same month Xaver Zembrod left the staff and moved to RB Leipzig . The following are currently responsible:

Nat.	Surname	vintage	function	On the staff since
	Peter Bosz	1963	Head coach	2019
	Hendrik Krüzen	1964	Assistant coach	2019
	David Thiel	1984	Goalkeeping coach	2012
	Shahriar Bigdeli	1980	Athletic trainer	2011
	Daniel Jouvin-Abraham	1978	Athletic trainer	2011
	Terry Peters	1986	Athletic trainer	2019
	Marcel Daum	1986	Co-trainer analysis	2019
	Simon Lackmann	1980	Licensed Player Analyst	2020

Supervisory staff

Nat.	Surname	vintage	function
	Hans-Peter Lehnhoff	1963	Team manager
	Karl-Heinrich Dittmar	1963	Team Doctor (Head)
	Philipp Ehrenstein	1977	Team doctor
	Burak Yildirim	1978	Team doctor
	Malte Kruger	1982	Senior Sports Scientist
	Sven Elsinger	1967	Physiotherapist (Head)
	Stephan Hartner	1988	Physiotherapist
	Manuel Schardt	1985	Physiotherapist
	Tobias Schäuble	1984	Physiotherapist
	Ill-Han Yu	1987	Physiotherapist
	Christian Beckers	1985	supervisor
	Markus Irmer	1976	supervisor
	Martin Kowatzki	1983	supervisor

Stadion

The BayArena from the outside

The BayArena from the inside, with a view of the east stand

See main article: BayArena

Home of the Bayer 04 footballers is the BayArena. The total capacity is 30,210 places, of which 3,000 are standing places. The guest area also offers space for 3000 spectators. The stadium is completely covered and offers spectators great comfort. The stadium used to be called " Ulrich Haberland Stadium ". The groundbreaking ceremony for the Ulrich Haberland Stadium took place on April 23, 1956 by Fritz Jacobi . In 1958, the stadium was inaugurated with a capacity of 20,000 spectators, replacing the old “Am Stadtpark” stadium. In 1963, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Bayer AG, the stadium was equipped with a floodlight system. From 1986 it was finally converted into a completely covered stadium. With the construction of the south stand, the stadium offered 22,500 spectators from August 1997 to December 2007. Another major construction project was completed in 1999 with the construction of the Hotel Lindner behind the north stand.

On March 30, 2007, the Board of Management of Bayer AG decided that the BayArena should be expanded to a capacity of over 30,000 spectators. The renovation work began in December 2007 and was completed at the beginning of the 2009/10 season . Due to the renovation, Bayer 04 Leverkusen competed in all scheduled home games in the first half of 2009 in the Düsseldorf LTU Arena .

Fans

Fans of Bayer Leverkusen in the BayArena

The fan friendship with Kickers Offenbach still exists today.

Bayer Leverkusen has 355 fan clubs with 25,000 members. The free stadium newspaper BayArena Magazin appears for every home game . With the "Mad-Boyz Leverkusen" one of the first ultra-oriented fan clubs in Germany came into being in 1994 . The "Mad Boyz" are an amalgamation of the fan clubs "Soccer Boys" and "Madness" founded in 1989 and 1990 respectively. By organizing the “The Cross Must Stay” initiative, the Leverkusen Ultras helped prevent the dismantling of the Bayer Cross , which the Bayer Group decided in 2007 .

Fan rivalry and friendship

There is a great rivalry between the fans of Bayer Leverkusen and those of 1. FC Köln . It is about geographical and traditional backgrounds, as both camps claim to be the "power on the Rhine ". While the Cologne fans refer to their tradition as a founding member of the Bundesliga and successes in the past, the Leverkusen fans refer to the sporting superiority.

See also : List of competitive games between 1. FC Köln and Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Furthermore, the Leverkusen supporters are very unpopular with the fans of KFC Uerdingen 05 , which can be traced back to their former joint sponsor, Bayer AG . There is also a certain tension with Fortuna Düsseldorf .

There is a friendship with fans of Kickers Offenbach . This is based on an incident from the 1980/81 season : In the Bundesliga match on August 23, 1980, Jürgen Gelsdorf from Leverkusen fouled Bum-Kun Cha , who was then playing at Eintracht Frankfurt , so that he had to be hospitalized, whereupon the Frankfurt fans gave the fans Leverkusens swore revenge at the next opportunity. A month and a half after the event, Leverkusen played a DFB Cup game on October 4th in Offenbach am Main near Frankfurt against the Kickers , who won the Hessen 5-2. As part of this game, the Leverkusen fans also joined the supporters of Kickers Offenbach, who had a local rivalry with their neighbors from Frankfurt when the Leverkusen supporters clashed with those of Eintracht. This gesture by the Offenbach fans turned into a longstanding friendship that also survived the relegation games to the Bundesliga in the 1981/82 season, in which the two clubs competed against each other. Leverkusen was 16th at the end of the season, after which the team had to play two relegation games against the third-placed player from the 2nd Bundesliga, Kickers Offenbach. Leverkusen won the two games 1-0 and 2-1, which meant that they would remain in the Bundesliga, while Offenbach remained in second class.

image

Bayer Leverkusen logo jet from LTU

Fan shop in the Wiesdorf pedestrian zone, 2016

The sports club TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen was originally a company sports team, similar to PSV Eindhoven , FC Arsenal , FC Sochaux or Urawa Red Diamonds abroad. Many of these former company sports teams have retained the status of the club. In Leverkusen, on the other hand, Bayer AG is the owner of Spielbetriebs-GmbH and currently contributes an estimated 25 million euros per year as a financier, which gives the Bayer AG subsidiary a certain degree of planning security. Fans of other clubs particularly criticize this advantage, but this subsidy is becoming less and less important against the background of the professionalization of German football and thus greater overall income. In addition, other companies such as Gazprom , Deutsche Telekom and Audi are now very determined to sponsor Bundesliga clubs. Unlike in the Bayer Leverkusen case, however, due to the legal form of an association and the 50 + 1 rule, the consent of the registered association and its members is essential. Correspondingly, an association would also have the right to terminate cooperation with investing companies. In the case of Bayer Leverkusen, this is no longer possible because the investing company Bayer AG has owned the football division since 1999.

To protect the league, the DFB introduced the so-called 50 + 1 rule, which is intended to prevent companies from having a majority stake in the game operating companies of Bundesliga clubs. The only exceptions to the rule were those investors who “had continuously and significantly promoted the football sport of the parent club for more than 20 years before January 1, 1999”. The cut-off date regulation known as “Lex Leverkusen” only applied to Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg , but was repealed in August 2011 by the arbitration tribunal of the German Football Association.

The growing, but still quite manageable following is often laughed at by large clubs and labeled as devoid of tradition. In contrast, the Bayer 04 fan scene was able to write a piece of fan history in 1989 with the first ultra grouping in the Bundesliga. Although Bayer Leverkusen has established itself as one of the top clubs in German club football and is also well known abroad, its supporters are quantitatively in the lower midfield of the Bundesliga, which is certainly also due to the low title successes and - compared to other cities in the Surrounding area - the city's low population or whether it is due to competition for advertising from neighboring clubs in the region.

In terms of sport, Bayer 04 has the image of a trainers' association. Thanks to professional structures, especially when it comes to scouting and support, we have been able to attract young talents time and again, who use the club as a stepping stone to becoming a star player. In particular, FC Bayern Munich signed many players from Leverkusen in the late 1990s to the early 2000s, who contributed to numerous titles in Munich. Due to their own unsuccessfulness and the constant rivalry, the games against FC Bayern still have a similar status for many fans as the derby against 1. FC Köln.

Furthermore, the team adheres to the image of the "Eternal Second". Since 1997 Bayer 04 Leverkusen have been German runners-up five times, twice losing the DFB Cup final and once the final for the European football crown in the Champions League. Bayer Leverkusen is one of a group of nine German soccer teams that have been runner-up more than once since the Bundesliga was founded. However, the club is the only team that has so far not won a championship title (although the championship titles of FC Schalke 04 all date from the time before the Bundesliga was founded). The 2001/02 season, in which the team came second in all three competitions (championship, DFB Cup and Champions League), is a particularly outstanding example of Leverkusen's bad luck in decisive games. As a result of this unfortunate season, the term " Vizekusen " was coined in the press . The GmbH registered this name as a trademark in 2010 alongside the term “Meisterkusen” .

Trivia

Nicknames for the first team of the soccer club include a. "Vizekusen", "Pill Rollers". and “Farbenstädter” While the external name “Vizekusen” refers to the titles missed from the end of the 1990s, “Pillendreher” was a self-awarded label that linked the pharmaceutical image of Bayer AG and football (“pill” as a synonym for "ball"). “Farbenstädter” is a reminder of its origins in the city of Leverkusen, whose economic boom began with the relocation of the paint factory founded by Friedrich Bayer in Elberfeld to today's city of Leverkusen. The oldest nickname for the first team is “Werkself”. It was intended to point out the close connection between a sports club and a private enterprise, which was still unusual in the 1970s. Although so-called "works teams" were regularly among the top national performers in various sports, the community of football fans was suspicious that behind the upswing of the football team of TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, according to the association's statutes, there was a globally successful corporation.

successes

title

DFB Cup winner 1993

• Champion of the II. Division West Group II: 1951
• Champion of the 2nd Division West: 1962
• Champion of the Regionalliga West : 1968
• Champion of the Mittelrhein Association League: 1974 , 1975
• Champion of the 2nd Bundesliga : 1979
• UEFA Cup Winner : 1988
• DFB Cup Winner : 1993
• DFB indoor cup winner : 1994

Amateurs / Second Team

• Champion of the Oberliga Nordrhein 1998 , 2001 , 2005
• Middle Rhine Cup winner 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2007

More Achievements

• UEFA Champions League : 2002 finalist
• European Cup Winners' Cup : 1994 quarter-finalist
• Bundesliga : 2nd place in 1997 , 1999 , 2000 , 2002 , 2011
• Bundesliga : 3rd place in 1994 , 1998 , 2004 , 2013 , 2016
• DFB Cup : Finalist 2002 , 2009 , 2020
• DFB Supercup : Finalist 1993
• DFL League Cup : semi-finalist 1998 , 1999 , 2000 , 2002 , 2004
• DFB Indoor Cup : Finalist 1995

Dates and personalities

Coat of arms history

• 

  1923-1928

• 

  another used coat of arms

• 

  another used coat of arms

• 

  post war period

• 

  1948–1968 (slightly modified version)

• 

  1969-1975

• 

  1975-1984

• 

  1988-1996

• 

  Since 1996 (current version)

Coach history since 1936

image	Surname	from	to	comment	Previous coaching station
	Paul Bornefeld	1936	1937
	Jupp gap	1937	1938
	Paul Bornefeld	1939	1941
	Karl Winkler	1941	1945
	Richard Job	1946	1948	Player-coach
	Karl Winkler	1948	1949		Rot-Weiß Oberhausen
	Theo Kirchberg	1949	1950	Player-coach
	Lorenz Polster	1950	1950		1. FC Nuremberg
	Raimond Schwab	1950	1951
	Franz Strehle	1951	1953
	Sepp Kretschmann	1953	1956		Werder Bremen
	Emil Melcher	1956	1957		VfL Bochum
	Edmund Conen	1957	1959		Wuppertal SV
	Theo Kirchberg	1959	1960
	Erich Garske	1960	1962
	Fritz Pliska	1962	1965		Fortuna Dusseldorf
	Theo Kirchberg	1965	1971
	Gero Bisanz	1971	1973		––
	Friedhelm Renno	1973	1974
	Manfred Rummel	1974	February 10, 1976		––
	Radoslav Momirski	February 11, 1976	March 29, 1976	Interim trainer	Wormatia worms
	Willibert Kremer	April 1, 1976	November 22, 1981	dismiss	MSV Duisburg
	Gerd Kentschke	November 23, 1981	June 30, 1982	Contract ended	––
	Dettmar Cramer	July 1, 1982	June 30, 1985	Contract ended	Aris Thessaloniki
	Erich Ribbeck	July 1, 1985	June 30, 1988	Contract ended	Borussia Dortmund
	Rinus Michels	July 1, 1988	April 13, 1989	dismiss	Netherlands
	Jürgen Gelsdorf	April 13, 1989	May 31, 1991	dismiss	Bayer 04 Leverkusen (assistant coach)
	Peter Hermann	May 31, 1991	June 30, 1991	Interim trainer	Bayer 04 Leverkusen (assistant coach)
	Reinhard Saftig	July 1, 1991	May 4th 1993	dismiss	VfL Bochum
	Dragoslav Stepanović	May 4th 1993	April 7, 1995	dismiss	Eintracht Frankfurt
	Erich Ribbeck	April 10, 1995	April 27, 1996	dismiss	FC Bayern Munich
	Peter Hermann	April 28, 1996	June 30, 1996	Interim trainer	Bayer 04 Leverkusen (assistant coach)
	Christoph Daum	July 1, 1996	October 21, 2000	dismiss	Beşiktaş Istanbul
	Rudi Völler	October 21, 2000	November 11, 2000	Interim trainer	––
	Berti Vogts	November 12, 2000	May 20, 2001	dismiss	Germany
	Klaus Toppmöller	July 1, 2001	February 15, 2003	dismiss	1. FC Saarbrücken
	Thomas Hörster	February 16, 2003	May 10, 2003	Interim trainer	Bayer 04 Leverkusen amateurs
	Klaus Augenthaler	May 13, 2003	September 16, 2005	dismiss	1. FC Nuremberg
	Rudi Völler	September 16, 2005	October 9, 2005	Interim trainer	AS Roma
	Michael Skibbe	October 9, 2005	May 21, 2008	dismiss	Germany U-18
	Bruno Labbadia	July 1, 2008	June 5, 2009	Contract terminated prematurely	SpVgg Greuther Fürth
	Jupp Heynckes	June 5, 2009	June 30, 2011	Contract ended	FC Bayern Munich (interim)
	Robin Dutt	July 1, 2011	April 1, 2012	dismiss	Sc freiburg
	Sascha Lewandowski	April 1, 2012	30th of June 2013	Together with the team manager Sami Hyypiä, he changed position within the club until the end of the 2011/12 season	Bayer 04 Leverkusen U-19
	Sami Hyypia	July, 1st 2013	5th April 2014	sacked interim team boss together with Sascha Lewandowski until the end of the 2012/13 season until the end of the 2011/12 season	Finland (assistant coach)
	Sascha Lewandowski	5th April 2014	June 30, 2014	Interim trainer	Bayer 04 Leverkusen
	Roger Schmidt	July 1, 2014	5th March 2017	dismiss	FC Red Bull Salzburg
	Tayfun Korkut	March 6, 2017	June 30, 2017	Contract ended	1. FC Kaiserslautern
	Heiko Herrlich	July 1, 2017	22nd December 2018	dismiss	SSV Jahn Regensburg
	Peter Bosz	4th January 2019			Borussia Dortmund

1. ↑ Bruno Labbadia's contract was canceled against payment of a transfer fee so that he could switch to Hamburger SV .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Since Hyypiä did not have the required license, he trained the team as team boss together with the football teacher Lewandowski. He returned after the 2012/13 season as a junior coach in the club's youth department.

Known players

Honorary captain

The Werkself's first honorary captain was the captain of the team that had been promoted to the league in 1951, Hans Frömmel , who led the club into the top German league for the first time. After promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979, record players Rüdiger Vollborn , Ulf Kirsten , Carsten Ramelow , Simon Rolfes and Stefan Kießling have been added.

The eleven of the century

For the hundredth anniversary of Bayer Leverkusen in 2004, the "Eleven of the Century" was chosen. Fans could choose their favorites from a pre-selected group of 51 players by post or via the Internet. Only players who were active for the club after the team's promotion to the Bundesliga were elected, although people who played for the club before 1979 were also eligible. The team consists of six Germans and five Brazilians. The substitute bench includes players from three nations in the 18-player squad. As of July 1, 2004, five of these people were still in the club's professional squad.

Item player Association membership replacement TW  Rüdiger Vollborn 1983-1999  Hans Jörg Butt V  Lúcio 2001-2004  Thomas Hörster Christian Wörns   V  Jens Nowotny 1996-2006 V  Juan 2002-2007 V  Jorginho 1989-1992 M.  Emerson 1997-2000  Carsten Ramelow Bernd Schuster Paulo Sérgio     M.  Michael Ballack 1999–2002 2010–2012 M.  Zé Roberto 1998-2002 M.  Bernd Schneider 1999-2009 A.  Ulf Kirsten M 1990-2003  Bum-kun Cha A.  Rudi Völler 1994-1996 M Most voted player

Vollborn Jorginho Nowotny Lúcio Juan Zé Roberto Ballack Emerson cutter Kirsten Völler

Other well-known players

In the following list of well-known players, only those people are shown in alphabetical order who are not shown above under honorary captain or in the eleven of the century from 2004. Only players - who are not currently in a player contract with the club - are listed who can meet at least one of the following criteria:

• 150 competitive appearances for Bayer 04 Leverkusen
• At least five full years or seasons of active professional players at the club (periods of youth and loan periods to other clubs are not taken into account, but loan arrangements at Bayer 04 Leverkusen do)
• Ten full years with the club or associated with the club in a noteworthy manner during the same period, at least one full year or one season of which as a licensed player at Bayer 04 Leverkusen; Youth time is not taken into account
• Awarded the Fritz Walter Medal in gold, silver or bronze during membership of the club, plus at least a full year or a full season as a professional player in the club squad
• Winning the world or a continental championship , e.g. B. the European Championship of UEFA , at any point in your active career, plus as a professional player in the club squad
• Other special attributes (for example, captaincy clothing during a season in which a title was achieved or top scorer in a league competition)

Players with a star behind the name were also active in the club's youth teams.

René Adler * Markus von Ahlen * Marko Babic Hanno Balitsch Tranquillo Barnetta Emil Becks Dimitar Berbatov Fred-Werner Bockholt Julian Brandt Matthias Bridges Klaus Bruckmann Andrzej Buncol Gonzalo Castro * Angelos Charisteas Chicharito Landon Donovan * Marcus Feinbier * Dieter Ferner Andreas Fischer Hans Flohr Franco Foda Manuel Friedrich Jürgen Gelsdorf Willi Gierlich

Frank Glass * Harry Gniech * Andrés Guardado Günter Haarmann * Karl Habets Karim Haggui Markus Happe Dirk Heinen * Frankie Hejduk Benjamin Henrichs * Peter Hermann Dieter Herzog Florian Hinterberger Heinz Höher * Hajime Hosogai Richard Job * Frank Juric Michal Kadlec Gerhard Kentschke Theo Kirchberg Peter Klimke Dominik Kohr * Robert Kovač Christoph Kramer *

Martin Kree Toni Kroos Robbie Kruse Hans-Peter Lehnhoff Bernd Leno Ioan Lupescu Hubert Makel Fredy Mutz Oliver Neuville Klaus Niemuth Levin Öztunali * Andrés Palop Heinz Papenhoff Hans-Otto Peters Diego Placente Walter Posner Kolja Push * Willi Rehbach Stefan Reinartz * Alois Reinhardt Claudio Reyna Marcel Risse * Friedhelm Renno Peter Röger *

Helmut Röhrig * Werner Röhrig * Wolfgang Rolff Roque Júnior Hans-Jürgen Scheinert Fitti Schmitz * Christian Schreier André Schürrle Erich Seckler Horst Stollenwerk * Friedhelm Strzelczyk Richard Sukuta-Pasu * Andreas Thom Fritz Tiede Tita Ömer Toprak Werner Torner Arturo Vidal Herbert Waas Horst Wehrle David Yelldell Thomas Zechel * Norbert Ziegler Boris Živković

Traditional team

Fredy Mutz , who had been in goal for the Werkself in 528 until 1961, founded the traditional Leverkusen team as an active player in 1959, which he chaired himself for 30 years. In the over 40 team, people who were important for the club play friendly games against clubs from the region or take part in benefit tournaments several times a year. The team is looked after by the former coach and player Gerd Kentschke and consists of ex-professionals such as Ulf Kirsten , Falko Götz , Simon Rolfes , Carsten Ramelow , Jens Nowotny and Walter Posner .

statistics

League affiliation and placements since the end of World War II

Placements in the Bundesliga since 1979

season	rank	Gates	Points	spectator	Season tickets	Most successful goalscorer (goals)	Trainer			DFB Cup balance sheet	Record of the European Cup
1979/80	12	45:61	32-36	13,941	k. A.	Peter Szech (9)	Willibert Kremer			2nd round	not qualified
1980/81	11	52:53	30-38	11,705	k. A.	Arne Larsen Økland (16)	Willibert Kremer
1981/82	16	45:72	25-43	09594	k. A.	Arne Larsen Økland (14)	Willibert Kremer (until 11/81)	Gerd Kentschke (interim trainer)		3rd round
1982/83	11	43:66	29-39	09205	k. A.	Arne Larsen Økland (13)	Dettmar Cramer			2nd round
1983/84	7th	50:50	34-34	11,652	k. A.	Herbert Waas (15)	Dettmar Cramer			1 round
1984/85	13	52:54	31-37	09658	k. A.	Herbert Waas (11)	Dettmar Cramer			Quarter finals
1985/86	6th	63:51	40-28	10.129	k. A.	Cha Bum-kun (17)	Erich Ribbeck
1986/87	6th	56:38	39-29	12,753	k. A.	Herbert Waas (15)	Erich Ribbeck			2nd round	UEFA Cup (2nd round)
1987/88	8th	53:60	32-36	09511	k. A.	Christian Schreier (11)	Erich Ribbeck			1 round	UEFA Cup ( cup winners )
1988/89	8th	45:44	34-34	12,329	k. A.	Christian Schreier (8)	Rinus Michels (until 4/89)	Jürgen Gelsdorf		Semifinals	UEFA Cup (1st round)
1989/90	5	40:32	39-29	14,423	k. A.	Marek Leśniak (8)	Jürgen Gelsdorf			2nd round	not qualified
1990/91	8th	47:46	35-33	13,617	k. A.	Ulf Kirsten (11)	Jürgen Gelsdorf (until 5/91)	Peter Hermann (Int.)			UEFA Cup (round of 16)
1991/92	6th	53:39	43-33	15,152	k. A.	Ulf Kirsten (12)	Reinhard Saftig			Semifinals	not qualified
1992/93	5	64:45	40-28	17.008	04,700	Ulf Kirsten (20) (top scorer)	Reinhard Saftig (until 5/93)	Dragoslav Stepanović		Cup winners
1993/94	3	60:47	39-29	19.111	05,300	Paulo Sergio (17)	Dragoslav Stepanović			Quarter finals	European Cup Winners' Cup ( quarter-finals )
1994/95	7th	62:51	36-32	22,829	06,000	Rudi Völler (16)	Dragoslav Stepanović (until 4/95)	Erich Ribbeck		2nd round	UEFA Cup (semi-finals)
1995/96	14th	37:38	38	22,041	08,300	Rudi Voeller (10)	Erich Ribbeck (until 4/96)	Peter Hermann (Int.)		Semifinals	UI Cup (quarter finals)
1996/97	2	69:41	69	20,670	12,000	Ulf Kirsten (22) (top scorer)	Christoph Daum			1 round	not qualified
1997/98	3	66:39	55	22,252	14,500	Ulf Kirsten (22) (top scorer)	Christoph Daum			Quarter finals	Champions League (quarter finals)
1998/99	2	61:30	63	22,435	k. A.	Ulf Kirsten (19)	Christoph Daum			2nd round	UEFA Cup (2nd round)
1999/2000	2	74:38	73	22,470	k. A.	Ulf Kirsten (17)	Christoph Daum			3rd round	Champions League (preliminary round) UEFA Cup (3rd round)
2000/01	4th	54:40	57	22,382	k. A.	Oliver Neuville (15)	Christoph Daum (until 10/2000)	Rudi Völler (Int., Until 11/2000)	Berti Vogts	Round of 16
2001/02	2	77:38	69	22,382	k. A.	Michael Ballack (17)	Klaus Toppmöller			final	Champions League ( final )
2002/03	15th	47:56	40	22,410	k. A.	Daniel Bierofka (7)	Klaus Toppmöller (until 2/03)	Thomas Hörster (Int., Until 5/03)	Klaus Augenthaler	Semifinals	Champions League (intermediate round)
2003/04	3	73:39	65	22,500	k. A.	Dimitar Berbatov (16)	Klaus Augenthaler			Round of 16	not qualified
2004/05	6th	65:44	57	22,500	14,732	Dimitar Berbatov (20)	Klaus Augenthaler			2nd round	Champions League (round of 16)
2005/06	5	64:49	52	22,264	14,910	Dimitar Berbatov (21)	Klaus Augenthaler (until 9/05)	Rudi Völler (Int., Until 10/05)	Michael Skibbe		UEFA Cup (1st round)
2006/07	5	54:49	51	22,410	14,520	Andriy Voronin (10)	Michael Skibbe				UEFA Cup (quarter-finals)
2007/08	7th	57:40	51	22,471	14,926	Theofanis Gekas (11)	Michael Skibbe			1 round
2008/09	9	59:46	49	26,532	15,183	Patrick Helmes (21)	Bruno Labbadia			final	not qualified
2009/10	4th	65:38	59	29,309	17,642	Stefan Kiessling (21)	Jupp Heynckes			2nd round
2010/11	2	64:44	68	28,633	18,551	Arturo Vidal (10)	Jupp Heynckes				Europa League (round of 16)
2011/12	5	52:44	54	28,494	k. A.	Stefan Kießling (16)	Robin Dutt (up to 3/12)	Sascha Lewandowski (Int.) & Sami Hyypiä (interim team leader)		1 round	Champions League (round of 16)
2012/13	3	65:39	65	28,175	k. A.	Stefan Kießling (25) (top scorer)	Sascha Lewandowski & Sami Hyypiä (Team Principal)			Round of 16	Europa League (sixteenth finals)
2013/14	4th	60:41	61	28,452	k. A.	Stefan Kiessling (15)	Sami Hyypiä (until 4/14)	Sascha Lewandowski		Quarter finals	Champions League (round of 16)
2014/15	4th	62:37	61	29,311	k. A.	Karim Bellarabi (12)	Roger Schmidt
2015/16	3	56:40	60	29,018	k. A.	Chicharito (17)	Roger Schmidt				Champions League (preliminary round) Europa League (round of 16)
2016/17	12	53:55	41	28,428	19,000	Chicharito (11)	Roger Schmidt (until 3/17)	Tayfun Korkut		2nd round	Champions League (round of 16)
2017/18	5	58:44	55	28,231	19,000	Kevin Volland (14)	Heiko Herrlich			Semifinals	not qualified
2018/19	4th	69:52	58	27,990	19,000	Kai Havertz (17)	Heiko Herrlich (until 12/18)	Peter Bosz		Round of 16	Europa League (sixteenth finals)
2019/20	5	61:44	63	21,236	k. A.	Kai Havertz (12)	Peter Bosz			final	Champions League (preliminary round) Europa League (quarter-finals)

European Cup matches

List of European Cup matches from Bayer 04 Leverkusen

season competition round opponent total To Back 1986/87 Uefa cup 1 round  Kalmar FF 7: 1 4: 1 (A) 3: 0 (H) 2nd round  FK Dukla Prague (a)1: 1 ( a ) 0: 0 (A) 1: 1 (H) 1987/88 Uefa cup 1 round  FK Austria Vienna 5: 1 0: 0 (A) 5: 1 (H) 2nd round  Toulouse FC 2: 1 1: 1 (A) 1: 0 (H) 3rd round  Feyenoord Rotterdam 3: 2 2: 2 (A) 1: 0 (H) Quarter finals  FC Barcelona 1-0 0: 0 (H) 1: 0 (A) Semifinals  Werder Bremen 1-0 1: 0 (H) 0: 0 (A) final  Espanyol Barcelona 3: 3 (3: 2 on  account ) 0: 3 (A) 3: 0 a.d. (H) 1988/89 Uefa cup 1 round  Belenenses Lisbon 0: 2 0: 1 (H) 0: 1 (A) 1990/91 Uefa cup 1 round  FC Twente Enschede 2: 1 1: 0 (H) 1: 1 a.d. (A) 2nd round  GKS Katowice 6: 1 2: 1 (A) 4: 0 (H) 3rd round  Brøndby IF 0: 3 0: 3 (A) 0: 0 (H) 1993/94 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1 round  FC Boby Brno 5-0 2: 0 (H) 3: 0 (A) 2nd round  Panathinaikos Athens 5: 3 4: 1 (A) 1: 2 (H) Quarter finals  Benfica Lisbon (a)5: 5 ( a ) 1: 1 (A) 4: 4 (H) 1994/95 Uefa cup 1 round  PSV Eindhoven 5: 4 5: 4 (H) 0: 0 (A) 2nd round  Kispest Honvéd FC 7-0 2: 0 (A) 5: 0 (H) 3rd round  GKS Katowice 8: 1 4: 1 (A) 4: 0 (H) Quarter finals  FC Nantes 5: 1 5: 1 (H) 0: 0 (A) Semifinals  AC Parma 1: 5 1: 2 (H) 0: 3 (A) 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup Group stage  OFI Crete 1-0 1: 0 (H)  JK Parnu Tervis 6: 1 6: 1 (A)  FK Budućnost Podgorica 3-0 3: 0 (H)  Nea Salamis Famagusta 2-0 2: 0 (A) Round of 16  Odense BK 5: 2 5: 2 (H) Quarter finals  FC Tirol Innsbruck 2: 2 (3: 5 on  behalf ) 2: 2 a.d. (A) 1997/98 UEFA Champions League 2nd qualifying round  Dinamo Tbilisi 6: 2 6: 1 (H) 0: 1 (A) Group stage  Lierse SK 3-0 1: 0 (H) 2: 0 (A)  AS Monaco 2: 6 0: 4 (A) 2: 2 (H)  Sporting Lisbon 6: 1 2: 0 (A) 4: 1 (H) Quarter finals  real Madrid 1: 4 1: 1 (H) 0: 3 (A) 1998/99 Uefa cup 1 round  Udinese Calcio 2: 1 1: 1 (A) 1: 0 (H) 2nd round  Glasgow Rangers 2: 3 1: 2 (H) 1: 1 (A) 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League 1st group stage  Lazio Rome 2: 2 1: 1 (H) 1: 1 (A)  NK Maribor 2-0 2: 0 (A) 0: 0 (H)  Dynamo Kiev 3: 5 1: 1 (H) 2: 4 (A) 1999/2000 Uefa cup 3rd round  Udinese Calcio (a)2: 2 ( a ) 1: 0 (A) 1: 2 (H) 2000/01 UEFA Champions League 1st group stage  Spartak Moscow 1: 2 0: 2 (A) 1: 0 (H)  Sporting Lisbon 3: 2 3: 2 (H) 0: 0 (A)  real Madrid 5: 8 2: 3 (H) 3: 5 (A) 2000/01 Uefa cup 3rd round  AEK Athens 4: 6 4: 4 (H) 0: 2 (A) 2001/02 UEFA Champions League 3rd qualifying round  FK Red Star Belgrade 3-0 0: 0 (A) 3: 0 (H) 1st group stage  Olympique Lyon 3: 4 1: 0 (A) 2: 4 (H)  FC Barcelona 3: 3 2: 1 (H) 1: 2 (A)  Fenerbahçe Istanbul 4: 2 2: 1 (H) 2: 1 (A) 2nd group stage  Juventus Turin 3: 5 0: 4 (A) 3: 1 (H)  Deportivo La Coruña 6: 1 3: 0 (H) 3: 1 (A)  Arsenal FC 2: 5 1: 1 (H) 1: 4 (A) Quarter finals  Liverpool FC 4: 3 0: 1 (A) 4: 2 (H) Semifinals  Manchester United ( a ) 3: 3(a) 2: 2 (A) 1: 1 (H) final  real Madrid 1: 2 1: 2 (N) 2002/03 UEFA Champions League 1st group stage  Olympiacos Piraeus 4: 6 2: 6 (A) 2: 0 (H)  Manchester United 1: 4 1: 2 (H) 0: 2 (A)  Maccabi Haifa 4: 1 2: 0 (N) 2: 1 (H) 2nd group stage  FC Barcelona 1: 4 1: 2 (H) 0: 2 (A)  Inter Milan 2: 5 2: 3 (A) 0: 2 (H)  Newcastle United 2: 6 1: 3 (H) 1: 3 (A) 2004/05 UEFA Champions League 3rd qualifying round  FC Baník Ostrava 6: 2 5: 0 (H) 1: 2 (A) 1st group stage  real Madrid 4: 1 3: 0 (H) 1: 1 (A)  Dynamo Kiev 3: 3 2: 4 (A) 3: 0 (H)  AS Roma 4: 2 3: 1 (H) 1: 1 (A) Round of 16  Liverpool FC 2: 6 1: 3 (A) 1: 3 (H) 2005/06 Uefa cup 1 round  CSKA Sofia 0: 2 0: 1 (H) 0: 1 (A) 2006/07 Uefa cup 1 round  FC Sion 3: 1 0: 0 (A) 3: 1 (H) Group stage  Club Bruges 1: 1 1: 1 (A)  Tottenham Hotspur 0: 1 0: 1 (H)  Dinamo Bucharest 1: 2 1: 2 (A)  Beşiktaş Istanbul 2: 1 2: 1 (H) Round of 16  Blackburn Rovers 3: 2 3: 2 (H) 0: 0 (A) Round of 16  RC Lens 4: 2 1: 2 (A) 3: 0 (H) Quarter finals  CA Osasuna 0: 4 0: 3 (H) 0: 1 (A) 2007/08 Uefa cup 1 round  União Leiria 5: 4 3: 1 (H) 2: 3 (A) Group stage  Toulouse FC 1-0 1: 0 (H)  Spartak Moscow 1: 2 1: 2 (A)  Sparta Prague 1-0 1: 0 (H)  FC Zurich 5-0 5: 0 (A) Round of 16  Galatasaray Istanbul 5: 1 0: 0 (A) 5: 1 (H) Round of 16  Hamburger SV ( a ) 3: 3(a) 1: 0 (H) 2: 3 (A) Quarter finals  Zenit St. Petersburg 2: 4 1: 4 (H) 1: 0 (A) 2010/11 UEFA Europa League Play-offs  Tavriya Simferopol 6: 1 3: 0 (H) 3: 1 (A) Group stage  Rosenborg Trondheim 5-0 4: 0 (H) 1: 0 (A)  Atlético Madrid 2: 2 1: 1 (A) 1: 1 (H)  Aris Thessaloniki 1-0 0: 0 (A) 1: 0 (H) Round of 16  Metalist Kharkiv 6-0 4: 0 (A) 2: 0 (H) Round of 16  Villarreal CF 3: 5 2: 3 (H) 1: 2 (A) 2011/12 UEFA Champions League Group stage  Chelsea FC 2: 3 0: 2 (A) 2: 1 (H)  KRC Genk 3: 1 2: 0 (H) 1: 1 (A)  Valencia CF 3: 4 2: 1 (H) 1: 3 (A) Round of 16  FC Barcelona 2:10 1: 3 (H) 1: 7 (A) 2012/13 UEFA Europa League Group stage  Metalist Kharkiv 0: 2 0: 0 (H) 0: 2 (A)  Rosenborg Trondheim 2-0 1: 0 (A) 1: 0 (H)  SK Rapid Vienna 7-0 4: 0 (A) 3: 0 (H) Round of 16  Benfica Lisbon 1: 3 0: 1 (H) 1: 2 (A) 2013/14 UEFA Champions League Group stage  Manchester United 2: 9 2: 4 (A) 0: 5 (H)  Real Sociedad 3: 1 2: 1 (H) 1: 0 (A)  Shakhtar Donetsk 4-0 4: 0 (H) 0: 0 (A) Round of 16  Paris Saint-Germain 1: 6 0: 4 (H) 1: 2 (A) 2014/15 UEFA Champions League Play-offs  FC Copenhagen 7: 2 3: 2 (A) 4: 0 (H) Group stage  AS Monaco 0: 2 0: 1 (A) 0: 1 (H)  Benfica Lisbon 3: 1 3: 1 (H) 0: 0 (A)  Zenit St. Petersburg 4: 1 2: 0 (H) 2: 1 (A) Round of 16  Atlético Madrid 1: 1 (2: 3  i.E. ) 1: 0 (H) 0: 1 a.d. (A) 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Play-offs  Lazio Rome 3: 1 0: 1 (A) 3: 0 (H) Group stage  BATE Baryssau 5: 2 4: 1 (H) 1: 1 (A)  FC Barcelona 2: 3 1: 2 (A) 1: 1 (H)  AS Roma 6: 7 4: 4 (H) 2: 3 (A) 2015/16 UEFA Europa League Round of 16  Sporting Lisbon 4: 1 1: 0 (A) 3: 1 (H) Round of 16  Villarreal CF 0: 2 0: 2 (A) 0: 0 (H) 2016/17 UEFA Champions League Group stage  CSKA Moscow 3: 3 2: 2 (H) 1: 1 (A)  AS Monaco 4: 1 1: 1 (A) 3: 0 (H)  Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 0: 0 (H) 1: 0 (A) Round of 16  Atlético Madrid 2: 4 2: 4 (H) 0: 0 (A) 2018/19 UEFA Europa League Group stage  Ludogorez Razgrad 4: 3 3: 2 (A) 1: 1 (H)  AEK Larnaka 9: 3 4: 2 (H) 5: 1 (A)  FC Zurich 3: 3 2: 3 (A) 1: 0 (H) Round of 16  FK Krasnodar (a)1: 1 ( a ) 0: 0 (A) 1: 1 (H) 2019/20 UEFA Champions League Group stage  Moscow locomotive 3: 2 1: 2 (H) 2: 0 (A)  Juventus Turin 0: 5 0: 3 (A) 0: 2 (H)  Atlético Madrid 2: 2 0: 1 (A) 2: 1 (H) 2019/20 UEFA Europa League Round of 16  FC Porto 5: 2 2: 1 (H) 3: 1 (A) Round of 16  Glasgow Rangers 4: 1 3: 1 (A) 1: 0 (H) Quarter finals  Inter Milan 1: 2 1: 2 (N) Legend: (H) - home game, (A) - away game, (N) - neutral place, (a) - away goal rule , (i. E.) - on penalties , (n. V.) - after extra time

Victories

Placements of Leverkusen in the Bundesliga (since 1979)

On March 18, 2000 Bayer Leverkusen won the away game against promoted SSV Ulm 1846 9-1. In Leverkusen's highest away win in the Bundesliga, Emerson (2), Zé Roberto (2), Paulo Rink , Ulf Kirsten , Oliver Neuville , Michael Ballack , Bernd Schneider and Ulmer Leandro Fonseca were able to enter the scorers list.

Leverkusen achieved their highest home win on April 10, 2004 against Lauterer , who was threatened with relegation , when Leverkusen prevailed 6-0.

The highest victory in the DFB-Pokal was the 11: 0 against the then regional league team BSV Stahl Brandenburg on March 13, 1994. The second highest victory in the DFB-Pokal, also away, was an 11: 1 against FK Pirmasens on August 14, 2010 .

Defeats

The biggest away defeat in the Bundesliga was a 6-1 win against Hannover 96 on March 26, 1988. On the first match day of the 1952/53 league season (at that time the highest German division), the Werkself lost 8-1 at Rot-Weiss Essen .

Leverkusen's biggest home defeat is a 5-0 loss, which the Werkself suffered on November 27, 2013 against Manchester United .

On August 29, 2010 Bayer 04 lost their home game against Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-6. The team had never before conceded six goals in a Bundesliga home game.

Another memorable defeat was the 4-7 defeat against FC Schalke 04 on February 11, 2006, as it was the highest-scoring game Leverkusen played in the Bundesliga with eleven goals.

The biggest away defeat in the Champions League was on March 7, 2012 in the round of 16 against FC Barcelona 7-1.

Record player

With 401 Bundesliga appearances from 1984 to 1999, Rüdiger Vollborn is Leverkusen's player with the most Bundesliga appearances. While he was a regular goalkeeper until 1996, he was only used sporadically until 1999 and then ended his professional career. Until 2012 he was the club's goalkeeping coach.

The other record players are Ulf Kirsten (1990–2003) with 350, Stefan Kießling (2006–2018) with 344, Carsten Ramelow (1996–2008) with 333, Thomas Hörster (1977–1991) with 332, Simon Rolfes (2005–2015 ) with 288, Gonzalo Castro (2005–2015) with 286, Bernd Schneider (1999–2009) with 263 and Jens Nowotny (1996–2006) with 230 appearances in the Bundesliga.

Record coach

Christoph Daum played the most games as a coach with 144 games.

Record goal scorers

Ulf Kirsten, the most successful goalscorer in the history of the Leverkusen Bundesliga

Bayer 04's record scorer is Ulf Kirsten with 181 goals in 350 Bundesliga games, which corresponds to a hit rate of 0.52 goals per game. Kirsten, who spent his entire Bundesliga career at Leverkusen from 1990 to 2003, is also the most successful Bundesliga hunter of the 1990s. The most successful Werkself goalscorers are Stefan Kießling (2006–2018) with 131, Herbert Waas with 72 (1982–1990), Dimitar Berbatow with 69 (2001–2006), and Christian Schreier with 63 goals (1985–1991) by a long way. ( As of May 25, 2018 ).

Others

Shirt sponsors

Bayer AG
(1904–1992)

Talcid (Bayer AG)
(1992–1995)

Alka-Seltzer (Bayer AG)
(1995–1997)

Aspirin (Bayer AG)
(1997-2000)

avanza (RWE)
(2000-2001)

RWE
(2001-2007)

TelDaFax ENERGY
(2007-2011)

SunPower
(2011-2013)

DKMS
(2013; charity campaign of the association without payment)

LG
(2013-2016)

Barmenia Insurance
(since 2016)

• With eight referrals, Jens Nowotny holds the club and Bundesliga record in this category.
• With 2100 points (1.55 per game) Bayer 04 Leverkusen are tenth in the all-time Bundesliga table .
• Bayer 04 Leverkusen topped the Bundesliga table 71 times.

Youth work

Youth Center

After the spin-off of Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, the Kurtekotten youth training center was opened at the beginning of 2000 , offering four places and a modern functional area. The women's Bundesliga team also plays its home games on one of the 1,100 seats .

Junior teams

The offer for young players ranges from the U10 to the U19, who will compete in the A-Juniors-Bundesliga-West season in the 2020/21 season .

Women's soccer

See main article: Bayer 04 Leverkusen (women's football)

On July 1, 2008, Bayer 04 Leverkusen took over the women's football department at TuS Köln rrh. The first team initially played in the 2nd Bundesliga South and rose to the Bundesliga in 2010 , from which they were relegated in 2017. The second team rose in 2010 to the Regionalliga West . There are also three girls' teams.

Web links

Commons : Bayer 04 Leverkusen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH

Individual evidence

1. ^ Foundation of the football GmbH. In: bayer04.de. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, accessed on October 12, 2019 . 
2. ↑ kicker.de : The 50 + 1 rule remains, "Lex Leverkusen" does not . Retrieved October 12, 2019.
3. ↑ Alex Feuerherdt, Bayer 04 Leverkusen - the football chronicle, Göttingen 2011, p. 18
4. ↑ Bayer Leverkusen: The early years. In: bayer04.de. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, accessed on February 26, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Alex Feuerherdt, Bayer 04 Leverkusen - the football chronicle, Göttingen 2011, p. 19
6. ↑ Klaus Beck (responsible publisher): 100 Years of Bayer 04 (1904–2004), p. 406 ff. (Title, medals and awards)
7. ↑ Bayer Leverkusen: 1930s. In: bayer04.de. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, accessed on February 26, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Alex Feuerherdt: Bayer 04 Leverkusen - The Football Chronicle . Göttingen 2011, p. 26 .
9. ↑ Jupp Prömpler: Tiede Köpfler brought de Munck into trouble! In: Kicker sports magazine . April 13, 1953.
10. ^ Matthias Bauschen,: 100 years of Bayer 04 - The history of a unique sports club . Ed .: Klaus Beck. Mohn-Media, Gütersloh 2004, ISBN 3-00-013605-3 , p. 406 .
11. ↑ Match report: "Royal" lucky winners in the database of kicker.de . Retrieved October 12, 2019.
12. ↑ Bayer has "Vizekusen" legally protected. In: world. April 13, 2010, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Jan Simak (Bayer Leverkusen) ( Memento from March 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
14. ↑ ^{a b} Johannes Röhrig: Big Mama. In: stern. May 13, 2006, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Udo Bonnekoh, Robert Peters: Calmund's farewell in a new light. In: RP Online. April 28, 2006, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Schade succeeds Managing Director Holzhäuser. In: Handelsblatt . May 14, 2013, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
17. ↑ Bayer takes action against viagogo. In: RP Online. August 6, 2013, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
18. ↑ Bayer separates from Hyypiä. In: Focus Online . April 5, 2014, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
19. ↑ Regionalliga: Bayer Leverkusen announces U23 team. In: Spiegel Online . Retrieved October 12, 2019 . 
20. ↑ Christoph Pluschke: The favorite is Roger Schmidt. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . April 24, 2014, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
21. ↑ Leverkusen brings "Red Bull" trainer Roger Schmidt. In: world. April 25, 2014, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
22. ↑ Karim Bellarabi scores a record goal. In: nundesliga.de. August 23, 2014, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
23. ↑ Bundesliga 2014/15 17th matchday in the database of kicker.de . Retrieved October 12, 2019.
24. ↑ kicker.de : Leverkusen parted ways with Roger Schmidt . Retrieved October 12, 2019.
25. ↑ kicker.de : Official: Tayfun Korkut will inherit Schmidt until the end of the season . Retrieved October 12, 2019.
26. ↑ Great - Bayer 04 have a new head coach. In: bayer04.de. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, accessed on November 1, 2017 . 
27. ↑ Match report: Bayer Express rolls over disastrous Eintracht in the database of kicker.de . Retrieved October 12, 2019.
28. ↑ Stefan Klüttermann: Going public is not an option for Bayer 04. In: RP Online . April 1, 2014, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
29. ↑ ^{a b} Shareholder / Organization. In: bayer04.de. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, accessed on October 27, 2019 . 
30. ↑ The Werkself. In: bayer04.de. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, accessed on July 24, 2020 . 
31. ↑ [kicker.de/778665/artikel Two changeover periods in summer - the first only lasts one day]; kicker.de, published and accessed on June 29, 2020
32. ↑ [bayer04.de/de-de/news/bayer04/stanilewicz-wechselelt-zum-zweitligisten-darmstadt-98 Stanilewicz changes to the second division Darmstadt 98]; bayer04.de, accessed on August 7, 2020
33. ↑ Besides Paulinho a trio is missing ; kicker.de, July 22, 2020, accessed on July 23, 2020
34. ↑ Peter Bosz takes over trainer position from Heiko Herrlich. In: bayer04.de. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, December 23, 2019, accessed on December 23, 2019 . 
35. ↑ Terry Peters strengthens the Werkself coaching team. In: bayer04.de. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, January 4, 2019, accessed on January 8, 2019 . 
36. ↑ Lars Werner: Bayer is booming! In: Express . August 4, 2010, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
37. ↑ Christoph Biermann: Such a cross. TAZ , October 17, 2007, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
38. ↑ Goals before emotions ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
39. ↑ Tobias Gonscherowski: FC in Leverkusen, the derby that is not a derby. In: koeln.de. November 26, 2014, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
40. ↑ Match report Bayer 04 Leverkusen versus Eintracht Frankfurt. In: transfermarkt.de. August 23, 1980. Retrieved October 12, 2019 . 
41. ↑ Match report Offenbacher Kickers against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. In: transfermarkt.de. October 4, 1980. Retrieved October 12, 2019 . 
42. ↑ Bayer 04 and OFC - a very intensive connection ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ); bayer04.de, July 16, 2012, accessed on January 7, 2016 / The source speaks of a DFB Cup game in October 1981, but this contradicts other sources.
43. ^ "Lex Leverkusen" is abolished. In: RP Online. August 30, 2011, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
44. ↑ Bayer Leverkusen: The sympathetic plastic club. zeit.de, February 3, 2013, accessed on May 10, 2018 . 
45. ↑ Farbenstädter. In: dict.cc. Retrieved November 13, 2019 . 
46. ↑ Kies and Vollborn accepted into the club of honorary captains. Retrieved March 2, 2020 . 
47. ↑ Fan vote 2004: Bayer 04's eleven of the century . In: bayer04.de. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, accessed on April 13, 2019 . 
48. ↑ Fredy Mutz - An Idol turns 70. In: Stadion Kurier No. 12 from the season 95/96, p. 25.
49. ↑ Well-known Leverkusen athletes ... then: Fredy Mutz, how are you today? In: Bayer 04 Leverkusen club newspaper, March 1996 edition, pp. 26–27.
50. ↑ W. Kalcker: "You were one of the greats of our association" - Illustrious crowd of guests at 60 year old Fredy Mutz. In: Kölner Rundschau of March 17, 1986.
51. ↑ traditional team. In: bayer04.de , accessed on December 11, 2019.
52. ↑ Bayer 04 Leverkusen. In: uefa.com. Retrieved October 12, 2019 . 
53. ^ Christian Oeynhausen: Leverkusen celebrates shooting festival. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. August 14, 2012, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
54. ↑ Rot-Weiss Essen - SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen 8: 1 (Oberliga West (1947-63) 1952/1953, 1st matchday). Retrieved February 12, 2020 . 
55. ↑ Eternal table of the Bundesliga. In: fussballdaten.de. Retrieved October 12, 2019 . 
56. ↑ Young talent center. In: bayer04.de. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, accessed on August 13, 2018 .