Due to his terminal illness, he was unable to attend the celebrations in May for the '40 years Bundesliga under the Bayer Cross'. Although Hubert Makel was not at the event, he was in the hearts and minds of his former team-mates on that evening. His goalkeeping rival Fred Bockholt gave a moving speech to the audience at the reunion party at the BayArena: "We had a reserve goalkeeper back then who had an incredible amount of quality but perhaps wasn't as mentally strong as me. Hubert Makel, it's a shame you can't be with us here today. All the best and much happiness."
Hubert Makel, who played for SC Brück in Cologne, joined Bayer 04 at the start of the 1970s. When the keeper arrived, the club went through several of its darkest hours with relegation from the Regional League West and two seasons in the District League. The sporting low was followed in 1975 by the return to the professional game: Along with Gerd Kentschke, Matthias Brücken, Willi Rehbach and Co. under coach Manfred Rummel, Makel celebrated promotion to the Bundesliga 2 North after an impressive promotion run with three wins against Arminia Hannover and Union Solingen.
A few weeks later, Bayer 04 signed Fred Bockholt as an experienced keeper from Kickers Offenbach and Hubert Makel went into the second team. Without any complaints or moaning. When he was needed, 'Hubi' always made himself available – as in February 1977 when Bockholt was injured in a game in Hannover. That meant Makel was in goal for many months. He ended up playing 36 second division games for Bayer 04. But Bockholt was the number one for the Werkself for the Bundesliga promotion season in 1978/79.
The situation didn't change but Hubert Makel did play his part in Leverkusen staying up in their first year in the Bundesliga. And it was not an insignificant role. Makel was back between the sticks for the last four games of the run-in when Bockholt went off injured early on at Bochum on matchday 30. The reserve keeper was thrown in at the deep end from a sporting perspective but Makel demonstrated his calm and class. In the two crucial games at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium to avoid relegation, the home wins against Schalke 04 (2-0) and Hamburg SV (2-1), he provided solid support for his back four. Kevin Keegan, Horst Hrubesch, Felix Magath and Manni Kaltz struggled to beat him and HSV missed out on their chance to win the German league title here. Bayer 04 and Hubert Makel celebrated a successful first campaign in Germany's top flight with a two-week dream trip to Southeast Asia with stops in Jakarta, Singapore and on Bali.
Makel ended his Bundesliga career at Leverkusen in the summer of 1981 and then moved on to Bonner SC. He was already 35 at that point. But he still had many years left as a keeper. Makel returned to his home club of SC Brück where he was the goalkeeping coach for many years. At the start of the 1990s he played for the Bayer 04 Veterans team. In 1993/94 Brück celebrate his return to the Oberliga when the first choice keeper Michael Nißl was injured. At the age of 48! Makel had not lost his desire and ambition as a keeper and he succeeded in taking the ball from the feet of the opposition almost at will.
Hubert Makel played in goal for the Bayer 04 Vets when he was well over 60. The team will wear black armbands at the Klosterpforten Cup in Marienfeld on Thursday.
Bayer 04 entertain third-placed VfB Stuttgart in the penultimate Bundesliga home game. The match at the BayArena is today Saturday 27 April (kick-off: 18.30 CEST/live on Sky and on Werkself Radio). The latest information on the game, with fans again asked to follow traffic information, is here in the news in brief.
Show moreAfter three consecutive weeks of playing midweek, the Werkself have been preparing for the top-of-the-table clash against VfB Stuttgart over the past few days. Ahead of the home game on Saturday 27 April (kick-off 18:30 CEST, live on Sky), head coach Xabi Alonso praised the third-placed visitors and gave an update on the state of the pitch as well as personnel.
Show moreThere's no question: VfB Stuttgart are one of the biggest surprises of this season and have delighted their fans with exciting, successful attacking football. After suffering a rare defeat at Bremen last weekend, third-placed VfB are looking to get back to winning ways in this Saturday's big match against the Werkself (kick-off 18:30 CEST). The visitors will be without their playmaker in midfield, though. A look at our next opponents...
Show moreWhether at school, in grassroots sports or at the football stadium – racism and discrimination of all kinds are still prevalent in our society. For this reason, Bayer 04 has been organising preventative school workshops on the subject of racism for many years. This week, one of these workshops took place at the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium not far from the BayArena as part of the Wiesdorf district matchday - and with a prominent guest: Werkself star Jonathan Tah worked intensively with the pupils on the topic. The German champion and international also spoke about his personal experiences with racism.
Show moreBayer 04 aren’t just the new champions of Germany but are also leading the way in engaging young fans after becoming the first Bundesliga club to release its own Pixi children’s book. Captain Lukas Hradecky and Josip Stanisic presented the 24-page publication entitled ‘Ein neuer Löwe für die Werkself’ (A new lion for the Werkself) at a reading for children in the BayArena's Schwadbud.
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