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!
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Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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Due to the last-minute postponement of the Bundesliga match between Hamburg and the Werkself on Tuesday, 13 January, Bayer 04 will reimburse the ticket price to all 3,500 fans who had already travelled to Hamburg as a sign of appreciation. The tickets remain valid for the rescheduled match (date not yet set).
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without centre-back Edmond Tapsoba in the coming weeks. The Burkina Faso international returned to the Werkself from the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco with a muscle injury.
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The Bundesliga fixture between Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 Leverkusen has been postponed at short notice.
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Bayer 04 face Hamburger SV for the first time in almost eight years. Although the Hanseatic city team are often below par on the road, they are regularly in top form in front of their own fans. In particular, 18-year-old shooting star Luka Vuskovic is proving to be a real bonus for Merlin Polzin's team, both in attack and defence. However, that should not scare the Werkself: Not only was the last defeat against the newly promoted team 17 games ago, but Kasper Hjulmand's players are in with a chance of securing their fifth win in six games against HSV. Today’s matchday news.
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