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"Gelle", as his teammates called him, moved on from MSV Duisburg to Arminia Bielefeld in the second Bundesliga North where he scored four goals in 120 games for the team from Westphalia. As former youth coach Willibert Kremer was appointed head coach at Leverkusen in 1976. Kremer remembered the youngster and brought him under the Bayer Cross. Jürgen Gelsdorf is a fixture in the Leverkusen team for next ten years and gains promotion to the Bundesliga with the team in 1979. He made a total of 320 Bundesliga and cup appearances for Bayer 04 scoring 30 goals. However, he demonstrated his qualities in defence. "Gelle" played as a central defender, as a sweeper, but always went into challenges without fear and he never minded doing the basics. Sleeves up, socks down, without shin pads of course, and off we go.
His worst days under the Bayer Cross came in 1980 in the 3-2 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt. In a challenge that was generally accepted at the time, he tackles the South Korean striker and future teammate Bum-kun Cha who unluckily lands on the knee of the Bayer 04 sweeper and he suffers a back injury. The hate campaign against Jürgen Gelsdorf assumes absurd proportions. Sensational headlines and articles fill the TV reports and hate mail comes through to the Bayer 04 headquarters and his home address. He received police protection both at the training ground and at his home. Jürgen Gelsdorf writes an open letter where he describes the situation from his viewpoint. At the end of the letter, he wishes Bum-kun Cha a speedy recovery and that happens with the Frankfurt player only missing four matches. The two players meet up at the cup game at Kickers Offenbach and Cha accepts the apology from Jürgen Gelsdorf.
In his final season in 1985/86, Gelle is a standby player as he does his coaching badges. However, he is needed in the Rückrunde to achieve a first qualification for the UEFA Cup. He makes another six appearances and then in 1986/87 takes charge of the Bayer 04 U19 team. In 1988, the new head coach Rinus Michels promotes brings him into the senior squad as assistant coach alongside Gerd Kentschke. Gelle replaces the hapless Dutchman in April 1989 and is at the helm as Bayer 04 as head coach for the next two years.
After that, he is the coach at several clubs in different leagues for 14 years. Regardless of whether that's at Bochum in the Bundesliga or with Fortuna Köln in the second division: Gelle has fun as a coach and carries on to 2005. Bayer 04 then bring him back as head of the academy. From October 2005, he leads the development of talents for the next ten years and that includes Gonzalo Castro, René Adler, Benjamin Henrichs and Kai Havertz, to name just a few.
Juergen Gelsdorf retired in 2015 but has continued as head of the football section at TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Dear Gelle, I wish you all the best on your 70th birthday. Carry on as you are and stay fit and healthy.
Minas Hantzidis was born on 4 July 1966 in Kettwig, near Essen, and he grew up in Germany. He developed a passion for football at a young age and, whilst still a youth player, moved from Wuppertaler SV to Bayer 04. The attacking and goal-scoring midfielder then made a name for himself in his first senior season at Bayer 04. In the reserve team, he scored goal after goal in the first half of the season, soon began training with the first team and was brought on as a substitute for the first time by manager Erich Ribbeck on 22 November 1985 in a home match against Bayern Munich.
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Sascha was born on 3 July 1986 in Leverkusen. He is the son of former Bundesliga 2 player Manfred Dum, who mainly scored goals for Union Solingen but also played for FC Saarbrücken, SC Freiburg and Wuppertaler SV. Sascha started playing for the youth teams at HSV Langenfeld at an early age. There, he caught the eye of scouts from Bayer 04 and joined the club at a young age. Following a growth spurt in the U15 team, which forced him to take a nine-month break, the left-footed player finally had the ideal conditions to establish himself in the Bayer 04 youth ranks. Even as an U17 player, he made the leap into the U19 team. Blessed with immense pace, Sascha primarily played in attacking midfield. Not the most technically gifted, but possessing a powerful shot, he found himself training with the first team in the summer of 2005 alongside Gonzalo Castro, while he was still a U19 player.
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The Werkself could not have hoped for a better start to the Bundesliga 2 North season in 1976/77. At the end of a week-long training camp in Quickborn, Schleswig-Holstein, coach Willibert Kremer’s side secured two convincing victories over BSC Brunsbüttel (5–0) and TuS Holstein Quickborn (6–0). Following this flying start, Bayer 04 faced a considerably tougher challenge on 23 July 1976 at 19:30 CEST at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against Bundesliga side Karlsruher SC.
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On 27 June 2001, new head coach Klaus Toppmöller and his assistant Peter Hermann led the Werkself out of the changing rooms for their first training session. Joining them as they stepped onto the pitch at training ground 1 were the four new signings: Hans Jörg Butt, Yildiray Bastürk (with special permission from VfL Bochum, as Bayer 04 and VfL had not yet agreed on a transfer fee), Zoltan Sebescen and Michael Zepek, the record holder for appearances for the youth national team.
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Hans Sarpei was born on 28 June 1976 in Tema, Ghana, and came to Germany with his parents at the age of three, where he grew up in Cologne. Even before he was born, his mother and father worked in Hamburg in the import-export sector. There they met an older man who introduced them to German culture and supported them. Out of gratitude, Hans was later given his first name, although this man died before he was born. Hans comes from a sporting family; his older brother Edward and his nephews Hans Nunoo Sarpei and Kingsley Sarpei were or are also professional footballers.
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