Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

On November 27, 1903 Wilhelm Hauschild wrote a letter that was signed by 170 of his colleagues and addressed to his employer, Friedrich Bayer and Co. asking for the company's help in the creation of a sports club. The company was willing to help the idea and on the 1st of July 1904, the Turn- und Spielverein Bayer 04 Leverkusen was formed. The club was officially established on May 31, 1907. an entirely separate football team was created inside the team. In the sports culture in Germany in the time, there was a lot of tension between gymnasts and other kinds of athletes. In the end, this led to a division within the club. On the 8th of June in 1928 footballers formed a new association called Sportvereinigung Bayer 04 Leverkusen - that also included fistball and handball players, boxing and athletics as gymnasts went their own as TuS Bayer 04 Leverkusen. SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen took along with them the club's traditional colors of black and red while gymnasts were able to wear colors of blue and yellow.

In this time in the 1930s and beyond, SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen played in the third and fourth divisions of football. The year 1936 was the time they were awarded an upgrade to the second level of play in the time. It was also the year in which the club donned the recognizable "Bayer" logo for the very first time. They first made an appearance in the upper league in 1951, playing in the Oberliga West and played there until 1956 when they were cut from the Oberliga West.

SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen would not be able to return to the top leagues until after 1962. one year before the creation of Germany's first professional league called the Bundesliga. The following season saw the club play being in the Regionalliga West, tier II which was where their performance during the subsequent seasons saw them fall further down the league rankings.

SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen made an impressive breakthrough in the year 1998 when they took home the division championship, but could not advance to the playoffs to Division 1. The club was then relegated in 1973, however, they were able to make an immediate return to what is now the 2. Bundesliga after only one season of play playing in third division. Then, four years later the club finally secured an entry into the Bundesliga to begin playing in the 1979-80 seasons.

By the time the 1980s were over, SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen was advancing into the top tier of league tables and had established itself in the league by the end year. It was at this point when, in 1984, the two halves of the club that split up about a half century prior were reunited under the name TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen e.V. The new club chose the colors of white and red as its colors.

Alongside being a well-established Bundesliga team and a Bundesliga club, the club won its first honours by winning an incredible victory during the 1998 UEFA Cup. In a tie of 0-3 with Espanyol following the first match, Bayer Leverkusen drew even during the return game and won the trophy with penalty kicks, winning 3-1.

In the year also saw the long-time Bayer Leverkusen executive Reiner Calmund was appointed General Manager of the Club. It is considered to be one of the biggest actions that the team has made in its history since Calmund brought in more than a decade of the club's most successful times by shrewd and savvy player acquisitions.

Following the German reunion at the time of 1990 Reiner Calmund was quick take on East German stars Ulf Kirsten, Andreas Thom and Jens Melzig. Three players would be instantly popular with the fans and would make important positive contributions to their team. Calmund also made groundbreaking connections with Brazilian soccer, gaining the friendship of Juan Figer, one of Brazil's most powerful agent for players. In the following years the young stars like Jorginho as well as Paulo Sergio, joined the team, along with Czech superstar Pavel Hapal. Additionally, the club signed charismatic players like Bernd Schuster and Rudi Voller to help keep the team's popularity high and continued growth.

Bayer won its subsequent award in 1993 when it scored an 1-0 victory in the DFB-Pokal against a surprisingly Hertha BSC amateur team on the 12th of June, 1993. The following campaign, in a match that was also famous for its 45-meter "German Goal of the Year" by Schuster (a goal that was later named "Goal of the Decade"), Bayer took on Eintracht Frankfurt early in the season. In in both a "tip to its hat" for its story and also an attempt to possibly to upset to the Frankfurt squad, Bayer played in its new third-colours that were traditional black and red stripes. like the jerseys Frankfurt typically were wearing in the early days. It was so well-loved by fans that soon after Bayer switched into its "retro" colors that included black and red. colors that have been that have been used for all home jerseys since.

Following a near-miss in 1996, when the club faced a relegation fight, Bayer Leverkusen established itself as a formidable team, providing a technically impressive offensive approach under the new manager Christoph Daum, who was additionally helped by the hiring of players such as Lucio, Emerson, Ze Roberto, and Michael Ballack. Daum was later famously dismissed for the alleged use of cocaine, which led to his demotion to the post of Germany head coach of the national side.

The team was awarded a string of fourth-place finishes between 1997 until 2002. The seasons of 2002 and 2000 were heartbreaking for fans since both times the team held the Bundesliga title in its grasp. The year 2000 was the time when Bayer Leverkusen needed only to draw with SpVgg Unterhaching to win the title, however an own goal from Michael Ballack helped send the team to a crushing loss of 2-0 and Bayern Munich clinched the title with a convincing 3-1 win over Werder Bremen. The following year the team lost five points in the top spot of the league table after dropping two out of the three matches , while Borussia Dortmund won with three consecutive wins in its final match. The 2002 season was called"the "Treble Horror" because Bayer Leverkusen were also beaten by 4-2 at the DFB-Pokal final by Schalke 04 before losing their UEFA Champions League final 2-1 to Real Madrid, which also resulted in some English-language newspapers calling the team "Neverkusen". Leverkusen became the very first club in history to reach the semifinals in the Champions League without ever having won an official national championship. Additionally, five players from Leverkusen's Bayer Leverkusen team were also part of the Germany national team that fell at the end of the World Cup in the same year.

The club was hit by shocking turn of events in the subsequent two seasons. In the off-season of 2002, the team lost key midfielders Michael Ballack and Ze Roberto to arch-rivals Bayern Munich. The team then threw a dart at dropping out for the majority of the 2002-03 season. This led to the dismissal of Klaus Toppmoller, who had led the team in the most successful season, and was replaced by the unproven Thomas Horster. A charismatic head coach Klaus Augenthaler took up the role in the two final matches of the campaign, and made sure that the team did not fall into disaster with an impressive win against his previous club 1. FC Nurnberg. He later was the coach of Bayer Leverkusen to a third-place place and the Champions League place the following year.

The following season's participation through the Champions League saw the club achieve some revenge against Real Madrid, opening its group stage by sweeping 3-0 the Spanish giants, enabling Leverkusen to take the group title. Leverkusen however, was knocked out in the knockout round by the eventual champions Liverpool. Leverkusen finished in sixth place during the 2004-05 campaign to qualify for the following year's UEFA Cup.

In the year 2005, Augenthaler was dismissed as manager when the club's start to the lowest Bundesliga start in more than 20 years. There was just one win in its initial four league matches and a 0-1 defeat at home against CSKA Sofia in the first part of its UEFA Cup match-up. Former Germany manager of the national team Rudi Voller was named director of sports prior to the start of the season was responsible for five matches as the interim manager. Michael Skibbe, who was Voller's assistant coach in Germany's national squad, was chosen the successor to him October of 2005. Skibbe transformed Leverkusen's season and led the club to an impressive sixth place finish in 2006 which earned another UEFA Cup place, and the club repeated the feat by securing a fifth-place Bundesliga finishing in 2007.

The 2007-08 season wasn't an enjoyable one for Leverkusen despite a positive beginning to the season. five of the final 10 league games were lost to teams in the lower part of the rankings. Michael Skibbe was heavily criticised at the close of the season because the club's manager constantly changed his line-up of players. Bayer Leverkusen also lost a large portion of its supporters towards the final stages of the season. In the 2-1 home defeat against Hertha BSC in the final game of the season, the Leverkusen fans caused a lot of commotion as fans demanded the dismissal of Skibbe and others, as well as Ultras who had seen enough, lit fire to their jerseys before throwing them on the field. Michael Skibbe was sacked soon following, and left the club on the 21st of May 2008, with the club's officials saying that the reason for his departure was the fact that he was not able to be able to participate in the following year's UEFA Cup group stage.

The 2008-09 season was started off with a bang with Bayer Leverkusen under new manager Bruno Labbadia, who the club bought from 2. Bundesliga Club SpVgg Greuther Furth. The season progressed SpVgg Greuther Furth failed to score any wins against the top clubs in the Bundesliga. Leverkusen managed to make it to the DFB-Pokal final on May 30th 2009 in Berlin however, they lost 1-0 against Werder Bremen. Leverkusen ended the season in ninth position at the top of the Bundesliga table, and Labbadia was transferred into Hamburger SV in June 2009. The following month, Leverkusen presented Jupp Heynckes as the new manager, who was previously the manager of Bayern Munich after Jurgen Klinsmann's departure. In the season of 2010-11, Bayer Leverkusen finished runner-up which meant they qualified for Champions League for the first time since 2005. But, Heynckes decided not to extend his contract, and he left Bayer Leverkusen in the 2011 closing season to take over the reins at Bayern Munich for a third time. In the seasons of 2012-13 and 2015-16, Leverkusen finished third with coach Sami Hyypia and Roger Schmidt respectively, however they were thrown out of the group stage of the Champions League the following season each time. The 2019-20 UEFA Europa League, Leverkusen made it to the quarterfinals in the last time they had been there since 2008 but they were beaten in the quarter-finals by Inter Milan in a 2-1 defeat.

In contrast to different German football clubs that are rooted in their roots as working-class, Bayer Leverkusen strives for a tidy, family-friendly appearance. The BayArena is known for being among the most welcoming football stadiums for families in Germany. In a way, Bayer 04 was the first Bundesliga club with fans who were identified as Ultras and Leverkusen is the city that they play in. Leverkusen is among the oldest cities in Germany.

Bayer Leverkusen is perceived by certain people as having an ongoing image issue that is a bit different. While they're financially sound and have an experienced and stable roster of players, many of the fans of traditional clubs decry Bayer Leverkusen as being a "plastic club" with no any traditions or a dedicated fans, whose base is merely because of their powerful pharmaceutical company patron Bayer AG. Bayer AG. This is why Bayer Leverkusen's fans and the club have begun to highlight their industrial roots with pride, naming them "Werkself" (Eng. "Factory team", "Millhanders") or "Pillendreher" (Eng. "Tablet twisters").

Bayer Leverkusen's origins as a corporate entity however, are not distinctive. Other clubs, such as PSV, Carl Zeiss Jena and Sochaux are all sporting the same image of being working teams. In contrast to the numerous Red Bull teams (Salzburg, New York and Leipzig) which were created or re-defined in recent years mainly because of commercial motives The formation of Bayer Leverkusen was motivated by the notion of improving the working conditions of local workers in the early 20th century. As a result of this custom, UEFA allows Bayer Leverkusen to utilize the brand of Bayer in European club competitions , but does not allow the use of such names, most notably in the case of Red Bull Salzburg.

In March 2020 Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and RB Leipzig, the four German UEFA Champions League teams for the 2019-20 season collectively donated EUR20 millions to Bundesliga and two. Bundesliga teams who were struggling financially during the COVID-19 epidemic.

As per detail below.

As per detail below.

Bundesliga

• Runners-up: 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2010–11

Bundesliga North

• Winners: 1978–79

DFB-Pokal

• Winners: 1992–93
• Runners-up: 2001–02, 2008–09, 2019–20

DFB-Supercup

• Runners-up: 1993

UEFA Cup

• Winners: 1987–88

UEFA Champions League

• Runners-up: 2001–02

German Under 19 championship

• Champions: 1986, 2000, 2007
• Runners-up: 1995, 2001, 2003, 2010

German Under 17 championship

• Champions: 1992, 2016

Under 19 Bundesliga West

• Champions: 2007, 2010

As of 30 June 2022

Detail of the players as below mentioned.

As of 21 July 2022

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	FIN	Lukáš Hrádecký (captain)
3	DF	ECU	Piero Hincapié
4	DF	GER	Jonathan Tah (3rd captain)
5	DF	NED	Mitchel Bakker
6	DF	CIV	Odilon Kossounou
7	FW	BRA	Paulinho
8	MF	GER	Robert Andrich
9	FW	IRN	Sardar Azmoun
10	MF	GER	Kerem Demirbay
11	MF	GER	Nadiem Amiri
12	DF	BFA	Edmond Tapsoba
14	FW	CZE	Patrik Schick
17	FW	FIN	Joel Pohjanpalo
19	FW	FRA	Moussa Diaby
20	MF	CHI	Charles Aránguiz (vice-captain)
21	FW	FRA	Amine Adli
22	DF	NED	Daley Sinkgraven
23	MF	CZE	Adam Hložek
24	DF	NED	Timothy Fosu-Mensah
25	MF	ARG	Exequiel Palacios
27	MF	GER	Florian Wirtz
28	FW	ESP	Iker Bravo
29	MF	DEN	Zidan Sertdemir
30	DF	NED	Jeremie Frimpong
32	MF	GER	Ayman Azhil
35	MF	GER	Joshua Eze
36	GK	GER	Niklas Lomb
38	MF	GER	Karim Bellarabi
40	GK	RUS	Andrey Lunyov

Detail of the players as below mentioned.

Most Leverkusen appearances

Rank	Nat.	Player	Period	Apps
1		Rüdiger Vollborn	1982–1999	483
2		Ulf Kirsten	1990–2003	448
3		Thomas Hörster	1977–1991	447
4		Stefan Kießling	2006–2018	444
5		Carsten Ramelow	1996–2008	437
6		Simon Rolfes	2005–2015	377
7		Gonzalo Castro	2005–2015	370
8		Bernd Schneider	1999–2009	366
9		Lars Bender	2009–2021	341
10		Jürgen Gelsdorf	1976–1986	310

Top scorers

Rank	Nat.	Player	Period	Goals
1		Ulf Kirsten	1990–2003	220
2		Stefan Kießling	2006–2018	162
3		Dimitar Berbatov	2001–2006	91
4		Herbert Waas	1982–1990	74
5		Christian Schreier	1984–1991	68
6		Cha Bum-Kun	1983–1989	63
7		Paulo Sérgio	1993–1997	61
8		Karim Bellarabi	2011–	53
9		Kevin Volland	2016–2020	50
10		Lucas Alario	2017–2022	49

As of 1 July 2021

Bayer 04 Leverkusen is sometimes referred to Bayer Leverkusen, Leverkusen, or simply as Bayer Leverkusen, is an German women's football team that is based within Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club is part of the Frauen-Bundesliga, which is the top class of German women's soccer.

The genesis the Bayer Leverkusen women's football section is at SSG 09 Bergisch Gladbach, which during the 1970s and the 1980s was the most dominant football club of German female football. The time was when Bergisch Gladbach won the national women's championship nine times, which remains the record. The club also took home the DFB-Pokal three times. Following the introduction of the Bundesliga in 1990, their performances decreased through the 1990s, eventually leading to their demotion.

In 1996, the women's team relocated to SSG 09 Bergisch Gladbach to TuS Koln rrh. In Koln it was mainly second-tier football but also played some time in the third division in between. Their biggest success was an appearance in the semi-finals of the trophy 2007-2008. However , the team was unsuccessful in finding sponsors that could aid in achieving the team's dream for playing Bundesliga football once again. In the same year, Bayer Leverkusen pronounced their interest to create a women's football division that they would own. On June 25, 2008, the women's football team of TuS Koln rrh. was disbanded in order to join Bayer Leverkusen.

In their first season with Bayer Leverkusen the team finished 7th in the South group of the two. Bundesliga. The next season, Leverkusen won the 2. Bundesliga and were able to participate in the Bundesliga for 2011-2011 season. In the inaugural season, the team was placed 8th in the.

The following season , the team was 11th in the table, but was not eliminated as Hamburger SV announced its disestablishment of the women's section. Since 2012-13, Leverkusen had been coached by Thomas Obliers, until his retirement in the year the year 2017. Leverkusen were dropped into the 2. Bundesliga soon after.

Detail of the players as below mentioned.

As of 29 October 2020

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	GER	Anna Klink
3	DF	GER	Melissa Friedrich
4	MF	POL	Sylwia Matysik
5	MF	GER	Lisanne Gräwe
6	MF	GER	Henrike Sahlmann
7	MF	GER	Jessica Wich
9	FW	GER	Chiara Bücher
10	FW	BIH	Milena Nikolić
11	FW	GER	Kristin Kögel
13	DF	GER	Caroline Siems
14	DF	GER	Juliane Wirtz
16	MF	GER	Sofie Zdebel
17	FW	SUI	Amira Arfaoui
18	DF	GER	Ann-Kathrin Vinken
19	FW	HUN	Dóra Zeller
20	MF	SRB	Dina Blagojevic
21	DF	SUI	Irina Pando
23	DF	GER	Nina Brüggemann
24	DF	HUN	Lilla Turányi
26	MF	GER	Clara Fröhlich
27	GK	GER	Friederike Abt
30	MF	SUI	Lara Marti
31	MF	GER	Verena Wieder
33	GK	GER	Joyce Prabel
—	FW	BRA	Ivana Fuso (on loan from Manchester United)

For more information about former and current players, please refer to the category "Bayer 04" Leverkusen (women) Players.