He experienced his biggest sporting success with FC Köln winning the German league title in 1962 and 1964. He earned 15 international caps for Germany and played in the 1962 World Cup in Chile. Leo Wilden also made his mark on Leverkusen.
Wilden joined the Werkself in 1966 and was one of the key players in the team under coach Theo Kirchberg in his second season at Leverkusen when they comfortably won the Regional League West title and thereby qualified for the Bundesliga play-offs. The Bayer team just missed out on making it into Germany's top flight when they finished second behind Kickers Offenbach. "We sensed promotion and were hungry for it," said Leo Wilden back then after a season that inspired euphoria in football fans in Leverkusen.
The defender hung up his boots at the age of 33 but continued to work for Bayer 04. In 1971, Wilden was the deputy to the football chairman Dr. Jürgen Schwericke and he worked in that role under the Bayer Cross up to 1973.
A profile of Leo Wilden, that appeared in July of last year marking his 85th birthday, is HERE.
The German Football League (DFL) has announced the three candidates for Bundesliga ‘Rookie of the Month’ for February. Among the candidates is Werkself player Jarell Quansah. Fans of Bayer 04 can vote for their favourite on the Bundesliga app from now until Thursday, 5 March (23:59 CET).
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On a day that celebrated 50 years of official Bayer 04 fan clubs with festivities on the pitch during the match against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday, New York-based Werkself Warriors were proudly represented on the field by co-founder Alex Kramm.
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The Werkself conceded a goal at home for the first time since the beginning of January 67 minutes into the game against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday. Jarell Quansah levelled late on for the final score of 1-1 to secure a point and avoid a first home defeat in six games. Bayer 04 were very critical of their performance after the game. The Werkself review.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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