He moved on from the German Democratic Republic second division club BSG Bergmann-Borsig to Aston Villa in the Premier League and finished runner-up in 1992/93. The king of the dead ball at corners and free kicks joined Bayer 04 in 1997 and was our first goalscorer in the Champions League. He converted a penalty for the opening goal against Lierse SK in the first match in Europe's premier club competition. It was the only goal of the game where Paule was sent off on 77 minutes after a second yellow card.
He made 80 Bundesliga appearances and scored 24 goals in his three years under the Bayer Cross. He played for the national team with five international appearances under three different coaches: Berti Vogts, Erich Ribbeck and Rudi Völler. After his time at Bayer 04, Stefan Beinlich spends three years at both Hertha Berlin and Hamburg SV and then ends his playing career at Hansa Rostock at the age of 35.
The father of three daughters is now the CEO at the Rostock Athletics Club. Paule will be 50 on 13 January and I maintain he could still find the top corner at the BayArena with his eyes closed from 23 metres out. Many happy returns on your birthday, Paule. I'll raise a glass to you.
The video shows a few goals from his time at Bayer 04.
Heiko Scholz was born on 7 January 1966 in Görlitz. His first club as a youth player was Dynamo Görlitz. From there, he moved up to the sports school in Dresden and played in the youth teams at SG Dynamo Dresden from 1978-1982. Not considered good enough, Scholle, as he was nicknamed, had to leave the sports school to play his last two youth years at ISG Hagenwerder. Via BSG Chemie Leipzig and 1.FC Lokomotive Leipzig, who Heiko won the DDR Pokal with in 1987 and he also reached the European Cup Winners' Cup final (a 1-0 defeat against Ajax), his path finally led him back to his favourite club, Dynamo Dresden. For one million Deutschmarks, the highest transfer fee ever paid for a player in the former GDR, he moved from Lok Leipzig to the capital of Saxony in 1990.
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Stefan Kießling was born on 25 January 1984 in Lichtenfels, Franconia. Even as a young boy, he spent countless hours on the football pitches of his home town, chasing after the ball and dreaming of playing football. His parents supported him, but they bring him up in a down-to-earth manner - hard work, honesty and modesty are values that characterise him from an early age. His talent became apparent early on, but his ambition was even more striking. Kießling always wants to improve, wants to give more than others.
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On Sunday 26 January 1936, the local derby between relegation-threatened BV Wiesdorf and league leaders SSV ‘Bayer’ Leverkusen took place in the first district league of the Rhein-Wupper district. On the old BV Wiesdorf pitch, where the Leverkusen job centre is today, 1,800 spectators gather to watch the match.
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It is Friday, 31 January 1986, the derby in Cologne is coming up and we're full of confidence after the home win against Hamburg SV a week earlier, having turned a 2-0 deficit at the break into a 3-2 victory. In particular, the Greek amateur player Minas Hantzidis, who came on as a half-time substitute, turned the game around. Two goals from Bum-kun Cha and a penalty from Christian Schreier gave us two important points in the battle for a UEFA Cup place. We are one point behind the North Germans in fifth place in the table, six points ahead of our neighbours from Cologne.
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In this video you can see impressive and important goals in Bayer 04 history from the month of January. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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