Yes, I'd like to see videos dispalyed.
Calli brought Atze to Leverkusen in his second year as a U19 player. Together with his future teammates, the Bayer 04 youth players Manfred Pomp and Frank Glaß, he was a runner-up at the 1982 youth European Championships with the U16 national team. He stepped up to the Werkself Bundesliga squad after a year in the Bayer 04 youth teams. Playing behind the strike partners Bum-kun Cha and Herbert Waas, he was the third player in attack under his patron Dettmar Cramer and he played ten games in his first year in the Bundesliga. His first Bundesliga goal was an equaliser at 1-1 in the away game at VfB Stuttgart on matchday 25. He played more for the Bayer 04 Reserves in his second season. That was because Bum-kun Cha and Herbert Waas were joined up front by new signing Christian Schreier and centre-forward Falko Götz, who was entitled to play for the Werkself from November 1984 a year after fleeing from the GDR. The competition in attack was too much.
When Erich Ribbeck took over as coach of the Bayer 04 team in the summer of 1985, he turned the two central strikers Christian Schreier and Falko Götz into a defensive and an offensive midfielder respectively. He also succeeded in turning Atze into a right-back. From matchday eight the right side of the Werkself was: right-back Thomas Zechel, right defensive midfielder Christian Schreier, right attacking midfielder Falko Götz. Coach Erich Ribbeck turned three centre-forwards into a really dangerous attacking right side. Bayer 04 finished in a UEFA Cup spot for the first time at the end of the season. Atze played a big part in that. He played in 29 games and scored five goals.
After a middling next season with just 20 appearances, he had even less minutes on the pitch in the UEFA Cup season 1987/88 and he suffered more injuries. Nevertheless, the UEFA Cup trophy with Bayer 04 was his biggest sporting success. In his six years at Leverkusen, Atze made 77 appearances and scored six goals for the Werkself.
From 1988 he changed clubs every year. From Hannover via Waldhof Mannheim to Schalke 04 – those were his next clubs. His coach at Schalke was Peter Neururer who signed him for FC Saarbrücken in 1991. He became a first-team regular there in the next two years and gained promotion to the Bundesliga with the Saarland team who were then relegated again a year later. Thomas Zechel ended his professional playing career after a less than satisfying 1993/94 season.
He liked Saarland so much that he settled there with his wife. He played for and coached lower league teams in Saarland. In addition, the father of a daughter opened a garage, which was soon his main profession. Today he is the boss of his own firm that mainly deals with the preparation of ambulances.
Dear Atze, all the best, above all stay healthy, on your 60th. Have a great time and enjoyed the day.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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