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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!
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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