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."
Trophies as a youth, appearances in the pro game and his first taste of international competition: new arrival Luca Erlein, who has been signed from TSG Hoffenheim, can already look back on some remarkable achievements and moments in his fledgling career. We take a closer look at the 19-year-old right-back, who can also fill other roles across the defensive line.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen has a new coffee partner. The club has agreed a long-term partnership with the Bocholt-based roastery Imping, running to 30 June 2031. The exclusive partnership with the family-run business includes the installation of fully automatic coffee machines at the BayArena, as well as the right to supply and serve coffee products in the business areas during Werkself home games.
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Plenty going on both on and off the pitch: The Bayer 04 fan support team has organised a number of highlights for fans visiting the Werkself 2026/27 summer training camp in Blankenhain, in the Weimarer Land region. Registration for the events is now open. All the details at a glance.
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The Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team and s2-Software are continuing their long-term partnership: The Werkself and the provider of pre-owned Microsoft licences have extended their contract by two years to 2028. This means s2-Software will remain the Bayer 04 sleeve sponsor for all matches in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga.
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BIOGENA is the new performance partner for the Bayer 04 Leverkusen Women’s team. Under a partnership initially set to run for three years, the club and the leading Austrian micronutrient company are pooling their expertise in the areas of health, fitness and top-level performance.
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