Bayer 04 Leverkusen

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Bayer Leverkusen

Full name

TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen e.V.,
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball
GmbH (Football)

Nickname(s)

Werkself ("Factory Squad")

Founded

1904

Ground

BayArena, Leverkusen,
formerly "Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion"

Capacity

22,500

Chairman

Wolfgang Holzhäuser

Manager

Michael Skibbe

League

Bundesliga

2005-06

Bundesliga, 5th





Home colours





Away colours

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball is a German football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the most well-known department of TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a sports club whose members also participate in athletics, gymnastics, basketball and other sports.

1 History
2 Club culture
3 Honours
4 Players
5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Origins and the early years

On November 27, 1903, Wilhelm Hauschild wrote a letter – signed by 107 of his fellow workers – to his employer, the Friedrich Bayer and Co., seeking the company's support in starting a sports club. The company agreed to support the initiative, and on July 1, 1904, Turn- und Spielverein Bayer 04 Leverkusen was founded.

On May 31, 1907, a separate football department was formed within the club. In the culture of sports in Germany at the time, there was significant animosity between gymnasts and other types of athletes. Eventually this contributed to a split within the club: on June 8, 1928, the footballers formed a separate association – Sportvereinigung Bayer 04 Leverkusen – that also included the handball and fistball players, athletics, and boxing, while the gymnasts carried on as TuS Bayer 04 Leverkusen. SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen took with them the club's traditional colours of red and black, with the gymnasts adopting blue and yellow.

Through this period, and into the 1930s, SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen played third and fourth division football. In 1936, they earned promotion to the second highest class of play of the period. That was also the year that the club wore the familiar "Bayer" cross for the first time. They made their first appearance in upper league play in 1951, in the Oberliga West and played there until 1956, after which they were relegated. SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen would not return to the upper leagues until 1962, just one season before the formation of Germany's new professional league, the Bundesliga. The next year saw the club in the Regionalliga West, tier II, where their performances over the next few seasons left them well down the league table.

[edit] Entry to the Bundesliga

Bayer Leverkusen historical team logos.

SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen made something of a breakthrough in 1968, by winning the division title, but were unable to advance through the playoff round to the first division. They were relegated again in 1973, but made a quick return to what was now called the 2.Bundesliga after just one season spent in the third division. Four years later, the team handily secured a place in the Bundesliga to start to play there in the 1979-80 season.

By the mid-1980s, SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen had played their way into the upper half of the league table and were well-established there by the end of the decade. It was during this time, in 1984, that the two halves of the club that had parted ways over half a century ago were re-united as TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen e.V. The new club took red and white as their colours, but the footballers kept their now-familiar red and black jerseys.

In addition to becoming an established Bundesliga side, the club earned its first honours with a dramatic win in the 1988 UEFA Cup. Down (0:3) to Espanyol after the first leg of the final, they drew even in the return match and then captured the title (3:2) on penalty kicks.

That same year, long-time Bayer Leverkusen executive Reiner Calmund became the general manager of the club. This is regarded as one of the most important moves in the club's history, as Calmund ushered in a decade and a half of the club's greatest success through shrewd, far-sighted player acquisitions.

After the German reunification in 1990, Reiner Calmund was quick to sign East German stars Ulf Kirsten, Andreas Thom, and Jens Melzig. The three players would become instant crowd favourites, and make significant contributons to the team. Calmund also established groundbreaking contacts in Brazilian football, befriending Juan Figer, one of Brazil's most powerful player agents. Over the next few years, budding superstars, such as Jorginho and Paulo Sérgio, joined the team, as did Czech star Pavel Hapal. They also signed charismatic players, such as Bernd Schuster, and Rudi Völler, helping to ensure the team's popularity and growing success.

The club captured its next honours in 1993, with a 1-0 win in the German Cup over a surprising Hertha Berlin amateur squad. After a near disaster in 1996 when the club faced a relegation battle, Bayer Leverkusen established itself as a powerful side, offering a technically pleasing offensive style of play under new coach Christoph Daum, who was also helped by the signing of players such as Lúcio, Emerson, Zé Roberto, and Michael Ballack. Daum was later to be famously fired for a cocaine scandal that also cost him his ascent to the role of the national team coach.

[edit] The Almost Champions

The team earned a series of top four finishes from 1997 to 2002 that included four second place finishes. The finishes of 2000 and 2002 were heart-breaking for supporters as on both occasions the team had the Bundesliga title within its grasp. In 2000, Bayer Leverkusen needed only a draw against minnows Unterhaching to win the title, but an own goal by Ballack helped send the team to a crushing (0:2) defeat, while Bayern Munich clinched the title with a (3:1) victory over Werder Bremen. Two years later, the club surrendered a five point lead atop the league table by losing two of its last three matches while Borussia Dortmund swept ahead with three consecutive victories in its final matches. The 2002 season has been dubbed the "Treble Horror", as Bayer Leverkusen was also beaten in the German Cup final (2:4) by Schalke 04, and lost the UEFA Champions League final to Real Madrid (1:2). Still, the team earned the honour as the first team ever to reach the UEFA Champions League final without winning a national championship before. They even had to qualify first for the participation in that year's UEFA Champions League.

[edit] Recent years

The club went through startling reversals of fortune in the next two seasons. In the 2002 offseason, the team lost influential midfield stars Michael Ballack, and Zé Roberto, to archrivals Bayern Munich. The team flirted with relegation through most of the 2002-03 season leading to the firing of Klaus Toppmöller, who had coached the team during its most successful year, and he was replaced by the inexperienced Thomas Hörster. Charismatic coach Klaus Augenthaler took up the reins in the last two games of the season and helped avoid disaster with a win over his previous club Nürnberg. He then led Bayer Leverkusen to a third place finish the following year.

Early in 2005, Augenthaler was in turn fired as manager after the club got off to their worst Bundesliga start in over twenty years, with only one win in their first four league matches and a (0:1) home loss to CSKA Sofia in the first leg of their UEFA Cup match-up. Former German national team coach Rudi Völler was named as caretaker manager. Michael Skibbe, who was Rudi Völler's assistant coach at the national team, was named as his successor in October. Skibbe turned their season around and guided the club to a 5th place finish, earning a UEFA Cup place.

[edit] Club culture

In contrast to many other German soccer clubs, which hold close ties to their proletarian roots, Bayer Leverkusen strives for a clean, family-friendly image. The BayArena has the reputation of being one of the most family-friendly soccer stadiums in Germany.

Unfortunately, Bayer Leverkusen is perceived by some to have an ongoing image problem of a different sort. Although they are a financially healthy club with a stable of strong players, many fans of the old school clubs denounce Bayer Leverkusen as a "plastic club", without traditions or a committed fan base, existing solely as a creature of their rich pharmaceutical company sponsor. This is not unknown in football and other famous clubs such as PSV Eindhoven, Parma, or Sochaux share a similar reputation.

[edit] Honours

German Cup: 1993
UEFA Cup: 1988

Bundesliga runners-up: 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002
German Cup finalist: 2002
UEFA Champions League finalist: 2002

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Hans-Jörg Butt
2	DF	Fredrik Stenman
3	DF	Roque Júnior
4	DF	Juan
5	DF	Karim Haggui
6	MF	Simon Rolfes
7	MF	Tranquillo Barnetta
9	FW	Sergej Barbarez
10	MF	Paul Freier
11	FW	Stefan Kießling
12	FW	Andriy Voronin - (joining Liverpool in July 2007)
13	DF	Athirson
16	MF	Pirmin Schwegler

No.	Position	Player
17	DF	Alexander Meyer
19	MF	Marko Babić
20	GK	Benedikt Fernandez
22	GK	René Adler
23	DF	Ahmed Reda Madouni
24	DF	Assimiou Touré
25	MF	Bernd Schneider
26	FW	Michal Papadopulos
27	MF	Gonzalo Castro
28	MF	Carsten Ramelow
29	DF	Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker
32	MF	Pierre De Wit
34	GK	Erik Domaschke

[edit] Bayer Leverkusen's "Squad of the Century"

On May 21, 2004, Bayer Leverkusen announced their "Bayer Leverkusen Squad of the Century". Over 4,000 fans participated in an Internet vote, choosing from a slate of 51 player candidates.