Yes, I'd like to see videos dispalyed.
After three years at Arminia Bielefeld and FC Saarbrücken, his path led him back to Kaiserslautern. In 1990, he won the DFB Pokal with Lauterer and moved to Bayer 04 at the end of the season. Franco played mainly as a sweeper for the next four years and captained the Werkself to DFB Pokal victory in 1993. He made a total of 140 appearances for Bayer 04 and scored ten goals along the way.
Another trophy came in 1997: He also won the DFB Pokal with VfB Stuttgart. His career then took him abroad, where Franco played for FC Basel in Switzerland and SK Sturm Graz in Austria, among others. He won the Austrian league title twice with Sturm Graz and took part in the UEFA Champions League with the club.
After the end of his playing career, Franco Foda remained closely connected to football. He began his coaching career at SK Sturm Graz as a youth coach, but took on the role of assistant coach of the first team just one year later and was appointed head coach on 1 June 2006. In this role, he led the club to the Austrian league title in 2010/11. Further coaching positions followed, including at FC Kaiserslautern, before he returned to Sturm Graz as head coach in September 2014.
From 30 October 2017, Franco Foda was in the Austria dugout. He was regarded as a coach with a clear approach who placed discipline, consistency and professionalism at the centre of his work. Under his leadership, Austria qualified for the Round of 16 of the Euros for the first time in 2021 - a significant sporting milestone.
In addition to sport, Franco Foda is also particularly committed to social causes. He volunteers in the city of Graz on several occasions and initiates charity campaigns for Graz foster families and their children, among other things. As a speaker on the Day of Volunteering, he emphasises the central importance of voluntary work for the functioning of society. He also supported initiatives around corona tests and was an ambassador for youth sport. In 2021, Franco took on a central role as a broad-based ambassador for exercise and sport, thus having an impact far beyond professional football.
After his time as Austria national coach from 2017 to 2022, he took on further international roles, including at FC Zurich. Since 2024, the father of two has been the Kosovo coach, continuing his successful coaching career at international level.
Dear Franco, I wish you all the best for your 60th birthday. Stay healthy and have a good one!
Jacek Krzynowek was born on 15 May 1976 in Kamiensk, Poland, and grew up as a typical country boy. He spent his childhood less in structured training sessions and more on simple pitches, where he spent hours playing football with older boys. He realised early on that he had exceptional shooting power and enormous stamina. But for a long time, he didn't appreciate just how much talent he had. While others dream of a great career, professional football initially seems like a distant world to him that he only knows from television.
Show more
Carsten ‘Calle’ Ramelow was born in Berlin on 20 March 1974. He began his football career in the youth teams at Tasmania 73, Tennis Borussia, SC Siemensstadt and, last but not least, Hertha Berlin. It was here that he reached the DFB Pokal final in 1993 with the Hertha Bubis team, the amateur team at Hertha Berlin, against his future employer Bayer 04 Leverkusen. But even he was unable to prevent the Werkself's 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Ulf Kirsten.
Show more
The 1995/1996 season brought some innovations. For the first time, each player was given a squad number with his name printed on the back of the jersey. For the first time, coaches were allowed to make three substitutions and for the first time, three points are awarded for a win. And for the first time, I am no longer my team's number 1. I wear it on my back, but Dirk Heinen has taken over me in goal. So at first I sat on the bench a bit offended, but in the Rückrunde I realised I also had to make my contribution to the success of a team.
Show more
In this video you can see impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 from the month of May. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
Show more
Bayer 04 Leverkusen, promoted to the Oberliga West, welcome VfL 99 Köln for the last game of a successful season. This time, the crowd of just 2,000 spectators saw more of a friendly than a championship match. Little fight, little goalmouth action and few moves in midfield to warm the hearts of the spectators. It takes a corner to give Bayer 04 the lead. Peter Röger is on hand with his head and nods home on 43 minutes for the half-time lead. When Karl-Heinz Spikofski increased the lead to 2-0 a quarter of an hour after the restart, the result was settled. The team from Cologne were able to reduce the deficit to 2-1 in the final minute, but in the end the spectators went home looking forward to the first season for a Bayer 04 team in Oberliga West 1.
Show more
