Christian joined Leverkusen on 1 July 1991 and he formed a very strong and reliable partnership at the Werkself in central defence with Martin Kree. Wörnser was uncompromising in tackles, a tough opponent and incredibly strong in the air. He made 211 Bundesliga appearances for Bayer 04 scoring 13 goals along the way. His biggest success with our club was winning the DFB Cup in 1993.
After seven successful years at Leverkusen, he joined Paris St Germain for 12 months but was not happy there so he returned to the Bundesliga. To the sorrow of all Bayer 04 fans, he won the Bundesliga title in 2002 with his new club Borussia Dortmund. Christian was capped 66 times for Germany and he ended his playing career in 2008 after a total of 469 Bundesliga appearances. But he stayed with football and began his coaching career. Wörnser primarily worked with youth teams for VfL Bochum, Schalke 04, SpVgg Unterhaching, FC Augsburg, 1860 Munich and, last but not least, for the German Football Association since 2019. He worked alongside a familiar face for Bayer 04 in assistant coach Peter Hermann, responsible for the 2002 intake but since March he has been the assistant coach at Schalke 04.
Wörnser, I wish you many happy returns on your 50th birthday. Stay fit and healthy.
Bernd Schneider, born in Jena on 17 November 1973, spent his early years in the German Democratic Republic. He took his first steps in football at the two Jena clubs BSG Aufbau and FC Carl Zeiss, the biggest club in his hometown. He played in the second division for six years in the 90s. Bernd Schneider stood out as an accomplished dribbler with his experience from street football always evident. His nickname Schnix comes from the Thuringian dialect: ‘Schnixeln’ is a synonym for dribbling, being able to control the ball. After Jena were relegated in 1998, Schnix went in the opposite direction. Newly promoted Eintracht Frankfurt brought into the Bundesliga. He spent a year there.
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18 June 1950 saw a friendly match for FC Köln, formed from the merger of two clubs in February 1948, against the Werkself at the Stadion Am Stadtpark. The two teams had already faced each other in May 1949 as winners of the Rhine district leagues in the final for promotion to the Oberliga West. The new club from Cologne came out on top in the two games and were promoted.
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In a messed-up season in 1984/85 everybody is happy that the battle against relegation is over before the final matchday. The visitors are UEFA Cup contenders SV Waldhof Mannheim in front of a sparse 6,000 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The Waldhof lads under their coach Klaus Schlappner are the surprise packet of the season. In their second campaign in the Bundesliga, the team from Mannheim are fifth on 35 points (with two points for a win back then) ahead of the game in Leverkusen and in a UEFA Cup qualifying spot. Two points behind them are Bayer 05 Uerdingen and Hamburg SV.
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Tranquillo Barnetta was born in St. Gallen in Switzerland on 22 May 1985. Quillo, as he was called in the football world, has Italian roots. His great-grandfather emigrated from Italy to the east of Switzerland. Quillo was interested in football early on and he played for the St. Gallen club FC Rotmonten from the age of six. He joined his favourite club FC St. Gallen at the age of 11. There he became a youth international. He won the European Championships with his teammates in the Switzerland U17 team in 2002. The youngsters from Switzerland beat France 4-2 on penalties in the final to become U17 European champions.
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Since the establishment of the Bundesliga on 28 July 1962 for the 1963/64 season, there have been five Regional Leagues: North, Berlin, West, South-west and South. The champions of those five leagues qualified directly for promotion play-offs that were played in two groups of four teams. That included the two second-placed teams in the West and South-west Regional Leagues. The two runners-up from the North and the South played a qualifier for the eighth place in the promotion games.
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