He started at Bayer 04 in 1976 as the youth managing director and shortly after that became the manager and director of the whole club of SV Bayer 04 that covered the sports of football, boxing, fist ball, handball and athletics. And in 1979, the year of promotion to the Bundesliga, he took over the post of head and managing director of the football department at the request of the then president Dr. Jürgen Schwericke. On this Saturday, Heintz Heitmann celebrates his 80th birthday.
Heintz Heitmann was the general manager of Bayer 04 the first five years in the Bundesliga. He was pretty much responsible for everything at the club: finance and budgeting, contract and transfer negotiations, licensing procedures, stadium administration, perimeter advertising, training camps and much more. The budget for the season in the first two years in the Bundesliga was 6.5 million Deutschmarks. "That covered all costs including the salaries of the players, coaches and staff, travel costs as well as looking after visitors and the press."
Our team spirit held together over the decades and they all remained Bayer lads," said Heitmann. He was in charge of the Veterans until 2006 – before handing over to Michael Kentschke. Bayer 04 send birthday greetings and wish the former general manager all the best and, above all, good health.
Today's top match at Leipzig will be refereed by FIFA official Harm Osmers from Hannover. His assistants are Robert Kempter from Stockach and Thomas Gorniak from Bremen. The fourth official is Lasse Kozlowski from Berlin. Günter Perl from Pullach is the VAR official. To date, Osmers has refereed 11 Werkself games, all in the Bundesliga – producing five wins, four draws, two defeats, 23 yellow cards and two red cards for Bayer 04. This season he was in charge of the home games against RB Leipzig (1-1) and Borussia Mönchengladbach (4-3).
He is an honorary captain and possibly the most technically gifted player ever to run out for the Werkself: Bernd 'Schnix' Schneider. The midfielder from Jena worked his magic on the right side of the Leverkusen midfield from 1999 to 2009 in 366 appearances. Now he has been asked by the Bild Zeitung about how the top game on matchday 19 will turn out. The answer from the now 47-year-old: "2-2 – both teams are strong in attack so there will be lots of goals. Because the last three meetings have ended in draws, the points will also be shared this time."
Under Carles Martínez, the Werkself have so far proved unbeatable at the BayArena. The Spaniard has led his team to victory in all three of their most recent home matches – and, it's worth noting, without conceding a single goal. On Sunday, 18 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST / live on DAZN and Werkself Radio), current league leaders SC Freiburg will make the trip to Leverkusen, but will be without their top scorer. What's more, the Werkself have won all three of their previous home matches against the Black Forest club. With a goal, Patrik Schick could not only secure a fourth consecutive victory but also set a memorable record. Meanwhile, on what will be the ‘Health Day' at the BayArena, much of the focus will be on physical wellbeing. Today's matchday news.
Show more
Bayer 04 Women missed out on victory in the Google Pixel Bundesliga as they were held to a draw at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Estrella Merino Gonzalez had put the Werkself ahead directly from a corner at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion, before Laura Freigang levelled for the visitors as it finished all square between fourth and third on Matchday 7.
Show more
Freiburg have made an impressive start to the season, unbeaten in nine games across all competitions, with eight of them wins. Now the Bundesliga leaders come to the BayArena on Sunday to take on the Werkself, but Julian Schuster’s team will be missing their top scorer. Here’s the lowdown on our next opponent.
Show more
Bayer 04 will have to manage without attacking midfielder Martin Terrier for the time being. The Frenchman sustained a muscle injury to his left hamstring yesterday, Thursday 15 October, during the Europa League game against Polish champions Lech Poznan (4–0). Terrier is not expected to be available until late December.
Show more
