Birthday boys of the month: Dieter Bast and Helmut Winklhofer
Dieter Bast, at Bayer 04 from 1983 to 1986, is 70 this month. Helmut Winklhofer, who played for the Werkself from 1982 to 1985, celebrates his 60th birthday in August.
Dieter Bast was born in Oberhausen on 28 August 1951. He started his Bundesliga career at Rot-Weiss Essen as a striker. Over the years he dropped back and later ended his career as a sweeper. In 1977 he moved for the then record transfer fee of 800,000 Deutschmarks from relegated Essen to VfL Bochum. Only Paul Breitner was more expensive that year when he left Bayern Munich to join Real Madrid. Dieter Bast became the organiser of the defence at Bochum and was the embodiment of a skilful, attacking sweeper.
When Dettmar Cramer was able to bring him to Leverkusen in 1983, he became a fixture in the Bayer 04 defence in his first two years. In 1984 Bast was the captain of the Germany team that went to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In his third year at Leverkusen, he lost his place a sweeper to Thomas Hörster and, at the age of 35, he was transferred to Rot-Weiss Essen in the second division after 71 Bundesliga appearances and two goals for Bayer 04. Dieter Bast will be 70 at the end of the month. Many happy returns, dear roommate, I'll raise a glass of red wine to you.
Winklhofer: from Bayern to Leverkusen and back
Helmut Winklhofer was an important member of our Werkself for three years from 1982 to 1985. His move from Bayern Munich to Leverkusen was intended to give the youth World Cup winner of 1981 important match practice. Under coach Dettmar Cramer, he makes 90 appearances for Bayer 04 and scores five goals. He is an attack-minded right-back who stands out above all with his runs down the wing and his rapid acceleration.
He returns to FC Bayern in 1985 and achieves undesired fame in his first match: Winklhofer fails to find his keeper Jean-Marie Pfaff with a back pass from 35 yards out and the own goal is voted Goal of the Month on the ARD Sportschau. In the following five years, 'Winki' battled with a lot of injuries but still ends up champion of Germany four times with Bayern and twice wins the DFB Cup. Helmut will be 60 on 27 August. Many happy returns and all the best.
Related News
Bayer 04 - 01.08.2025
History: 75 years ago – The 1950/51 season (August)
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.
Show more
Bayer 04 - 01.08.2025
Birthday boy of the month I: Horst Knauf turns 65
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.
Show more
Bayer 04 - 01.08.2025
Birthday boy of the month II: Holger Aden turns 60
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.
Show more
Bayer 04 - 01.08.2025
Legends: Michael Ballack, the Capitano
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.
Show more
Bayer 04 - 01.08.2025
Goals of the month: From Kießling to Ökland
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.
Show more
