Yes, I'd like to see videos dispalyed.
Reiner Calmund brings him to Bayer 04 in 1994. When he comes into the Bayer dressing room for the first time as a brand-new professional player and seeks out a place in front of a locker we say to him: "Lad, you can't sit there, that's Bernd Schuster's place!" Andreas provides a cheeky response and with his Berlin lip says: "Then he'll have to find a new place to sit!"
At his first training camp in 1994 he is the first and also only one I know who orders 'cola' at lunch and shows everybody else in the squad that he's doing his own thing. The combative and hard-running midfielder only makes five Bundesliga appearances in his first season but his cheeky approach to every training session shows why Calli brought him to Leverkusen.
A year later, Andreas is bitten by a tick when he goes for a run in the forest. He spends three days in hospital due to blood poisoning and then he is welcomed back to the team by Ulf Kirsten and called 'Zecke' (tick). Since then everybody just calls him Zecke.
In three and a half years from 1994 to December 1997 he only makes 44 appearances the Werkself but he is a very important part of the Bayer dressing room with his jocular manner. After a contract extension at Bayer 04 he goes out on loan to Hertha in his home town of Berlin in January 1998.
After two and a half years at Hertha, Reiner Calmund gets him to return to Bayer 04. He reluctantly follows the call under the Cross and is thereby one of very few players who have found their way to Leverkusen twice.
After a disappointing year for him and just seven games for the Black and Reds he returns to Hertha Berlin and is happy to play in his hometown for the next six years. In his first training session, the Berlin kit man provides him with a training top with his nickname Zecke on it as a joke. That gives him the idea of following the Brazilians and having his own nom de plume printed on his shirt for Bundesliga matches but the DFB put a stop to that. Only the name on your ID is allowed on shirts. That takes him to the Berlin passport office. There he can only have his nom de plume of Zecke entered on his ID card if he really is an artist. He takes the tip from the official seriously: "Just go and paint a few pictures and sell them!" So, Zecke picks up paint and brushes, paints lines, circles and squares on his watercolour block and gives it the title of 'Sad face'. And because he doesn't have anything to clean the brushes with he just uses another sheet and gives it the title of 'Scribble'. The pictures are auctioned for a good cause. And that is enough to see him recognised as an artist and allows his nom de plume to be entered in his ID and from the 2002/2003 season he has that name printed on his shirt.
From 2001 to 2007 he becomes a crowd favourite with Hertha fans with his style of play, his down-to-earth manner and is at times crazy hairdos and snappy patter.
The 32-year-old joins FC Ingolstadt in the Regional League South the 2007/2008 season. He is promoted to Bundesliga 2 with the Bavarians and then relegated again. After three years his yearning for his home town is again too much. He rejoins Hertha Berlin but mainly plays for the reserves in the last four years of his career before moving on to be a coach. At BSC Preußen he wins the state league championship straightaway. After a year with senior teams he moves on to the youth set-up at his favourite club.
From 2015 he coached different Hertha youth teams, became the head coach of the U23s and in 2021 he was assistant coach alongside Pal Dardai with the Hertha first team. In November 2021 he and the head coach are let go but since January 2023 the club legend Andreas 'Zecke' Neuendorf together with Benjamin Weber has been in charge of the sporting side of the second tier club.
Dear Zecke, many happy returns on your 50th! Stay as you are and above all remain healthy. Enjoy your birthday!
Wolfgang Vöge was born on 15 September 1955 in Ahlen, Westphalia and he was the fourth of seven children of a miner. His father, Erich Vöge, was a football referee as well. At an early age, Wolle, as he was called by his friends and teammates, developed a great passion for football and was an enthusiastic fan of BVB. His first success in football was achieved in the amateur game at his hometown club of SV Ahlen. He scored 26 goals in the first season and he came to the attention of scouts. That led to his move to Borussia Dortmund in 1975.
Show more
Andreas Thom was born on 7 September 1965 in Rüdersdorf near Berlin in Brandenburg. Andreas displayed an exceptional talent on the ball even as a child. Early on, he joined the youth section at BFC Dynamo Berlin, one of the leading football clubs in the German Democratic Republic. There he received targeted, performance-oriented training as part of the GDR sports system. His talent, his vision and his technique led him to make his debut in the first team at BFC Dynamo at the age of 17.
Show more
Jens Melzig was born in Cottbus on 28 September 1965. Melle, as he was called at Leverkusen, started his playing career at his hometown club Energie Cottbus. As a young player there he soon stood out thanks to his strength in challenges and his ability to read the game. He was in the Energie Cottbus first team in 1984 and he played for the club in the GDR league and the Oberliga. With 144 appearances and twelve goals he became one of the big players in defence. He made a major contribution to the club during this period – as a strong-tackling central defender who also displayed leadership qualities.
Show more
Lucio, full name Lucimar Ferreira da Silva, was born on 8 May 1978 in Planaltina, a suburb of the Brazilian capital Brasília. He showed his passion for football even as a child. On the dusty streets of his neighbourhood he spent hours chasing the ball – often in bare feet like many Brazilian children. Despite the simple conditions he grew up in, his family always supported his dream of one day becoming a great football player. He made his first steps in club football at small local clubs before moving onto the youth set-up at the club Guará and later he singed for the big club Internacional Porto Alegre. Bayer 04 signed the internationally completely unknown defender from there in January 2000.
Show more
In this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of September. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
Show more
