1.09.2025Bayer 04

From the archives: 50 years ago – First hat-trick in Bundesliga 2 North

The Werkself made an indifferent start after promotion to Bundesliga 2 North. The team led by coach Manfred Rummel only had four points after five games. Bayer 04 are in sixteenth place with a home win against the Berlin club Spandauer SV and two draws against Fortuna Köln and Union Solingen. On matchday six, eleventh-placed Preußen Münster are the visitors at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on 7 September 1975 with 4,200 fans watching the game.

And they see the Werkself play with freedom. The hosts did need two penalties that Willi Rehbach confidently converted. And a goal pulled back by Preußen failed to put off the team led by midfield maestro Peter Surbach.

Wilfried Klinge is man of the match

Wilfried Klinge scores twice after the restart. Both times he heads home floated crosses from Norbert Ziegler on 48 and 57 minutes. On the back of this 4-1 lead, Bayer 04 play with freedom and create chance after chance. Substitute Norbert Sobbe hits the post on 77 minutes. Klinge nets his third goal on 83 minutes with build-up play from Gerd Kentschke – it is the first hat-trick scored by a Bayer 04 player in Bundesliga 2 North.

The impressive solo run by the young Norbert Ziegler leads to a convincing and, according to Kicker, "also a 6-1 victory deserved by that margin." The best game of the season up to that point was an expression of a successful mix: Here the stalwart "old boys" Fred Bockholt, Willi Rehbach, Gerd Kentschke and Matthias Hemmersbach, there the commitment and panache of young lads like Norbert Ziegler and Wilfried Klinge. The Bayer 04 fans go home happy and look to the future with confidence. The start by the newly promoted club in their first season in the Bundesliga 2 North is very promising.

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