120 years of Bayer 04 Leverkusen: Timeline

February 1903

• Bayer AG employees Wilhelm Hauschild and August Kuhlmann ask the Herren Betriebs- & Bureaubeamten for support in creating a company gymnastics club.

27 November 1903

• In a letter, Hauschild asks the "honourable management of the paint factories" for support in founding a gymnastics club for the factory employees.

1 July 1904

• The ‘Turn- und Spielverein der Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. in Leverkusen’ is created.

31 May 1907

• Founding of the football team in the Manforter Hof restaurant from 1 June 1907.

June 1914

• The footballers get their first permanent home with the Ground on the Dhünn.

1923

• The German Gymnastics Association decrees a “clean divorce” between gymnastics and sport. The TuS 04 football team separates from the club as a whole and founds ‘Fußballverein 04 Leverkusen’, or FV 04 Leverkusen for short.

8 January 1928

• The footballers merge with the boxers, handball players, track and field athletes and fistballers to form ‘Sportvereinigung Wiesdorf-Leverkusen 04’. In addition to TuS 04, there is now a second major club in Leverkusen.

1 April 1930

• The city of Leverkusen is founded, consisting of the municipalities of Wiesdorf, Rheindorf, Schlebusch, Steinbüchel (Manfort, Küppersteg, Bürrig) and the ‘Leverkusen plant area’ with its housing built around the plant.

22 March 1931

• Sportvereinigung Leverkusen 04 gains promotion to the 1st Rheinische Bezirksklasse. A success that sets many things in motion in difficult times.

4 September 1932

• Inauguration of the stadium at the Stadtpark with a league match against Jugend Kalk.

1935

• The club adds "Bayer" to its name for the first time and becomes Sportvereinigung Bayer Leverkusen 04.

17 May 1936

• Promotion to the Bezirksklasse Niederrhein, the second-highest division at the time. The players wear jerseys with the Bayer cross on the chest for the first time.

18 July 1949

• At the annual general meeting on 18 July 1949, 400 members decide to introduce the contract player system. This effectively leads to the division of the football camp into a contract players' section and an amateur section. The era of professional football is ushered in.

8 April 1951

• Top flight for the first time with promotion to the Oberliga West.

15 April 1956

• Relegation to the 2. Oberliga West.

2 August 1958

• The Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion is inaugurated with a match between Bayer 04 and Fortuna Düsseldorf.

14 April 1962

• With players such as Leverkusen's own Heinz Höher, Werner Röhrig and Günter Haarmann, as well as goalkeepers Manfred Manglitz, Uwe Klimaschefski and goalscorer Hans-Otto Peters, Bayer 04 are promoted back to the Oberliga West as champions of the 2. Oberliga West. After six years in the second division, promotion unfortunately comes too late to have any real chance of competing in the new Bundesliga created in 1963. The Werkself would play in the new Regionalliga West from 1963/64.

12 May 1968

• Under coach Theo Kirchberg, Bayer 04 win the Regionalliga West and qualify for the Bundesliga promotion round, where they are narrowly defeated by Kickers Offenbach.

6 May 1973

• Bayer 04 are relegated from the Regionalliga to the Verbandsliga. The club now plays amateur football for two years.

15 June 1975

• Promotion to the Bundesliga 2 North. Goalscorer Matthias Brücken and striker Gerd Kentschke are key players in the team.

13 May 1979

• Under coach Willibert Kremer, Bayer 04 clinch promotion to the Bundesliga with a 3-3 draw against Bayer Uerdingen.

18 August 1979

• Bayer 04’s first Bundesliga win comes against Hertha Berlin at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion, with Kurt Eigl and Peter Szech scoring in the 2-1 victory.

June 1982

• The Werkself avoid relegation thanks to a 3-1 aggregate win against Kickers Offenbach in the play-off.

1 July 1984

• SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen and TuS Bayer 04 Leverkusen merge to form TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

26 April 1986

• Under coach Erich Ribbeck, Bayer 04 qualify for Europe (UEFA Cup) for the first time thanks to a 2-2 draw at Schalke on the final day of the 1985/86 season. 

18 May 1988

• A first major title for Leverkusen as they win the UEFA Cup, with goalkeeper Rüdiger Vollborn the hero in the final shootout against Espanyol.

12 June 1993

• Bayer 04 lift the DFB Pokal with a 1-0 win against Hertha Berlin’s reserves.

18 May 1996

• A 1-1 draw against Kaiserslautern on the final day keeps Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, with Markus Münch scoring perhaps the most important goal in the club’s history.

24 May 1997

• A new era began under Christoph Daum as the Werkself finished runners-up in Germany for the first time in 1996/97. They would finish second three times in four years, meaning Champions League qualification three times as well.

15 August 1998

• The Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion becomes the BayArena.

1 April 1999

• Bayer 04 become the first football club in Germany to separate its professional football department from the overall club TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen and found Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH.

2001/02

• The treble season that never was as Klaus Toppmöller guided the Werkself to their fourth runners-up finish in the Bundesliga. The team also came second in the DFB Pokal with a 4-2 final loss to Schalke, while the remarkable Champions League journey that saw Bayer 04 eliminate Barcelona, Lyon, Juventus and Liverpool ended in a 2-1 final defeat to Real Madrid.
• Germany also finish runners-up at the ensuring World Cup in Japan and South Korea, with five Bayer 04 players in the squad in Hans-Jörg Butt, Carsten Ramelow, Michael Ballack, Bernd Schneider and Oliver Neuville. However, Leverkusen’s Lucio came out on the winning side for Brazil.

2004

• Bayer 04 and TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen celebrate their 100th anniversary together this year with many events. The BayArena magazine and www.bayer04.de use the anniversary as an opportunity to organise a vote for the Bayer 04 XI of the Century. More than 4,000 fans took part in the vote. The result was:
  - Goalkeeper: Rüdiger Vollborn (2,808 votes)
  - Defenders: Jorginho (2,510), Jens Nowotny (3,480), Lucio (4,018), Juan (2,069)
  - Midfielders: Bernd Schneider (2,099), Emerson (2,757), Michael Ballack (2,585), Ze Roberto (2,105)
  - Forwards: Ulf Kirsten (4,117), Rudi Völler (2,577)

30 May 2009

• Bayer 04 reach the DFB Pokal final for the third time, losing 1-0 to Werder Bremen in Berlin.

15 August 2009

• Opening of the modernised BayArena with a 1-0 win against Hoffenheim.

14 May 2011

• Coach Jupp Heynckes leads Bayer 04 to their fifth runners-up finish.

18 May 2013

• Stefan Kießling becomes the second Leverkusen player after Ulf Kirsten (1992/93, 1996/97 and 1997/98) to be Bundesliga top scorer, with 25 goals in 2012/13.

17 February 2017

• Karim Bellarabi makes history with the 50,000th goal in the Bundesliga when he opens the scoring in the 3-1 win away at Augsburg.

15 May 2019

• Bayer 04 celebrate 40 years of being in the Bundesliga.

4 July 2020

• Bayer 04 reach the DFB Pokal final for the fourth time, losing 4-2 against Bayern Munich in an empty Olympiastadion due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

2022/23

• Under new coach Xabi Alonso, Leverkusen reach the semi-finals of a European competition for the first time in over 20 years but suffer a 1-0 aggregate defeat to Roma.

2023/24

• The dream finally becomes reality as Bayer 04 win the domestic double at the end of a historic campaign. The Werkself are crowned champions of Germany for the first time in their 120-year history and beat Kaiserslautern 1-0 to lift the DFB Pokal. The team’s sole defeat in 53 competitive matches came in the Europa League final against Atalanta (3-0).