Dirk Heinen, who won the DFB Cup with the Werkself in 1993 and the German league title with VfB Stuttgart in 2007, ended his playing career after the 2006/07 season and emigrated to Ireland with his family. During the 90-minute show, the current goalkeeping coach at Watford, talks about his life on the British Isles, the ‘Rhenisch mentality’ and lots of really extraordinary experiences from his football career - such as his appearance on the German version of You Bet! in 2006, a donner sauce in Turkey named after him and his unexpected but successful Bundesliga comeback at Arminia Bielefeld at the age of 37.
Heinen, who celebrated his 50th birthday at the beginning of December, also looks back at the 1995/96 season that almost ended in relegation with a ‘final’ against FC Kaiserslautern, talks about twists of fate, bad luck with injuries but also his special relationship with his long-term role model and later teammate and mentor Rüdiger Vollborn, who surprises our guest with a question as does his former Brazilian teammate Paulo Sergio.
This episode again provides exiting insights into the world of Bayer 04 (in German). Listen in!
Just subscribe to the Werks11 podcast to make sure you don’t miss any of the episodes – at Soundcloud, iTunes or Spotify.
The meeting between fifth and sixth on Saturday afternoon (17 January, 15:30 CET) is a hard one to predict. While the Werkself can take confidence from their historic record at TSG Hoffenheim, the hosts are currently enjoying their second-best Bundesliga campaign and have lost just one of their last 10 games. Another good omen for Bayer 04: Daniel Schlager also refereed Leverkusen's last victory in Sinsheim (4-1). The Matchday News.
Show more
At the end of the winter training camp in Portugal, the Bayer 04 Women convincingly mastered their friendly ahead of the start of the second half of the season. In the match against Swiss league leaders Servette FCCF, coach Roberto Pätzold's team won 3-0 at the Monte Gordo Sports Complex. Carlotta Wamser (4’), Vanessa Fudalla (18’) and Loreen Bender (53’) scored for Bayer 04, who have been preparing for the Rückrunde in the Algarve since last Saturday.
Show more
The German Football League (DFL) has rescheduled the postponed fixture at Hamburger SV on Bundesliga matchday 17. The match, due to be played on Tuesday, has now been rescheduled for Wednesday, 4 March (kick-off: 20:30 CET).
Show more
The Rückrunde is about to begin: The Werkself travel to TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday, 17 January (kick-off: 15:30 CET) on Bundesliga matchday 18. At the pre-match press conference on Friday lunchtime, head coach Kasper Hjulmand emphasised the double anticipation for the clash following Tuesday's postponement of the fixture at Hamburger SV. And he also talked about the tactical approach against an opponent on course for Champions League qualification.
Show more
TSG Hoffenheim have had a tremendous season so far and are in absolute top form going into the new year. After another outstanding display against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Wednesday, TSG went above Bayer 04 in the table. On Saturday, 17 January (kick-off: 15:30 CET), coach Christian Ilzer's team will be looking to continue their run in the league against the Werkself. The lowdown on our next opponents.
Show more
