In that year, when his ten years older brother Werner ended his football career at the age of 28 and started working for Bayer AG, Hemmi, as his teammates called him, stepped up to the first-team. He made 215 appearances between 1964 and 1972 and scored 16 goals. As a centre half, today comparable with a holding midfielder, he played a big part in the success of the 1960s. Out of the blue, Helmut Röhrig won the Regional League West title with Bayer 04 in 1968. The club was on the verge of making it to the Bundesliga but the Werkself lost out to Kickers Offenbach.
For the 1972/73 season, Hemmi moved on to VfR Heilbronn in the Regional League South. With that club he achieved promotion to Bundesliga 2 South. But Heilbronn were relegated after a season. Hemmi was the team captain and he only played 18 games in that season due to a knee injury that saw him spend half the season in the stands. After another year and missing out on going back up, he moved on to SV Neckargerach at the age of 31 before ending his career a couple years later at SpVgg Frankenbach.
Helmut, who still lives in Heilbronn, went on to coach after his playing career at SV Neckargerach, VfR Heilbronn, SpVgg Frankenbach, SG Bad Wimpfen and Union Böckingen.
Dear Hemmi, I wish you many happy returns on your 80th birthday! Have a good one and stay fit and healthy.
Zoltan Sebescen was born on 1 October 1975 in Ehingen and he started playing football as a child. His talent stood out early on and he was accepted into the youth section at Stuttgarter Kickers in 1982. There he progressed through all the youth teams and continued to develop. His breakthrough in the men's game came in the mid-1990s, when he moved up to the Kickers first team squad. With his speed, dynamism and attacking drive, he soon made a name for himself beyond the region. He and his team were promoted from the Regional League South to Bundesliga 2 in 1996 and stayed in the league with Stuttgart for three years.
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Jens Nowotny was born on 11 January 1974 in Malsch, Baden-Württemberg. As a youngster, he played for SV Spielberg and Germania Friedrichstal and later joined the youth section at Karlsruher SC. As a 15-year-old, he became an integral part of the DFB national youth set-up and played for all of the Germany junior teams. One highlight was an U15 international against England at Wembley.
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It is Tuesday, 20 October 2015 - a Champions League night at the BayArena. The visitors: AS Roma. What awaits the spectators is a memorable football match full of drama, speed and emotion. The Werkself get off to a flying start and literally overrun the slightly favoured Italians in the early stages. The scoreline was 2-0 after just twenty minutes - both goals were scored by Mexico international Chicharito. Bayer 04 put the visitors under constant pressure with their aggressive pressing and bold attacking play and even had a chance to make it 3-0. Then the AS Roma captain Daniele De Rossi brought his team back into the game with a brace making it 2-2 at half-time.
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In the video you can see impressive and important goals in Bayer 04 history from the month of October. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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On 23 October 1960, a highly anticipated local derby took place in the DFB Pokal, which the team had to qualify for via the regional association cup competitions at the time: SV Schlebusch hosted the Werkself from Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Around 2,000 spectators flocked to the "Am Bühl" stadium to watch the game kicking off at 3 pm.
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