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In 1986/ 87 he finished runner-up in the league with his team and with 24 goals the top scorer in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top-flight. In 1986 he played his first of 20 international matches for Poland scoring ten goals along the way. But he mainly played for the Poland Olympic team and in 1988 he used the opportunity of an international trip to Denmark to defect. He fled to the Federal Republic of Germany where he wanted to carry on playing in the Bundesliga. At that time, a Polish international player could only move abroad at the age of 28 otherwise the Polish FA PZPN would refuse them permission to play.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen stepped in to help out the very pacy striker and agreed a transfer fee of two million Deutschmarks with the Polish FA and Pogon Stettin. In addition, Bayer AG delivered medicines to the People's Republic of Poland to a value that by far exceeded the total of the transfer fee.
Marek became a crowd favourite under coach Rinus Michels. His sprints down the wing were only topped by his sprints after scoring in the direction of the fans including jumping on the fence, which he picked up from the Brazilian Tita. A little anecdote: After making it 3-1 against Borussia Mönchengladbach, he again sprinted in the direction of the fence, jumped on it only to discover that he was in front of the Borussia fans. He jumped back off the fence pretty quickly and celebrated with his teammates.
In his four years under the Bayer Cross, 'zigzag Lesniak', as he was called by the Bayer 04 fans for his quick dribbles, made 132 appearances for the Werkself and he scored 23 goals. When general manager Reiner Calmund first brought in the East Germany international Andreas Thom and six months later centre forward Ulf Kirsten to Leverkusen, Marek’s chances of a regular start diminished and he increasingly found himself on the bench. So he moved on in the Bundesliga, first to Wattenscheid 09 then to 1860 Munich and KFC Uerdingen. A year in Switzerland playing for Xamax Neuchatel was not a success. So, he signed for Fortuna Düsseldorf in the second division at the age of 33. He carried on playing up to the age of 40 for Preußen Münster and SSVg Velbert. At his last club, he was player coach and then in the following years in the dugout as coach. In addition to SSVg Velbert he also coached the teams at Wattenscheid 09 and TuSpo Richrath. Today he is the coach of the U19 team at FV Wiehl.
Dear Marek, I wish you many happy returns on your 60th birthday. Stay fit and healthy and look after yourself!
Bayer 04 started the new season on 20 July 1950. To the applause from almost 2,000 spectators, the Werkself stepped onto the pitch at the Am Stadtpark stadium and the season target was clear to the supporters: finally achieve promotion to the Oberliga West. Under the direction of new coach Raymond Schwab, who brought one of his Essen players with him in the shape of Karl-Heinz Spikofski, the team did a couple of laps. Coach Schwab gave a speech in front of all the fans where he clearly imparted his request for calm in the stands and he said he hated nothing more than heckling or laughing when mistakes are made. He hoped the Bayer 04 supporters would follow his advice.
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Horst Knauf was born in Cologne on 16 August 1960. As a teenager he played for PSV Köln before signing for the Bayer 04 Leverkusen U19s as a talented midfielder in 1976. He made the move up from the second team to the Bundesliga squad in 1980. Over the following three years he played 39 Bundesliga games and scored two goals. Above all in the difficult 1981/82 season for the Werkself with the play-off games against Kickers Offenbach, he played a big part in saving Bayer 04 with 21 appearances. But under the new coach Dettmar Cramer he rarely made a start and he decided to move on.
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Holger Aden was born in Hamburg on 25 August 1965. He learned all about playing football and, above all, scoring goals at the two Hamburg clubs Niendorfer TSV and TSV DuWo 08 Hamburg. After progression from the youth teams, he played for other Hamburg clubs. One after the other he appeared for Concordia Hamburg, Altona 93 and SC Norderstedt. The centre-forward regularly found the back of the opposition net. He scored 22 goals for SC Norderstedt in the 1988/89 season.
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Michael Ballack was born in Görlitz in the GDR on 26 September 1976. He displayed his talent for football at a young age. After his family moved to Karl-Marx-Stadt, now called Chemnitz, he started playing for BSG Motor ‘Fritz Heckert’ Karl-Marx-Stadt where he constantly continued to develop his ability on the pitch. From year seven he went to the children and youth sports college and there he received systematic support in sport that led, against the background of his increasing ability, to a move to FC Karl-Marx-Stadt. At the age of 16, he had to take a six-month break due to growing pains, but then there was no stopping Michael after that.
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In this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of August. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
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