The board see themselves vindicated, despite animosity from spectators and newspapers, by holding on to Kirchberg and having gone into the season with a lot of young and very inexperienced players in the squad. At the same time, in the home game against Lüner SV on 7 December 1969 there are still six players in the line-up from the Regional League West championship winning side of 1968 in the shape of Willy Haag, Günther Haarmann, Helmut Röhrig, Karl-Heinz Brücken, Fredi Hennecken and Friedhelm Strzelczyk.
Lüner SV come to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium in sixth place in the table. The team from Westphalia have not lost any of the last eight games and have bags of confidence. The Werkself, with the young keeper Dieter Ferner, who later played in the Bundesliga for FC Saarbrücken and in the USA with Chicago Sting the champions in 1981, take the lead in front of 3,500 spectators on three minutes with a headed goal scored by Hans Dieter Schäde from a cross by Friedhelm Strzelczyk. At the start of the season, the lively right winger was seen as "the one-eyed man, king in the land of the blind", as Strelli, as his teammates called him, only had one healthy eye. The other is a glass eye that he takes out when playing cards to have a "look" into the other players’ hands.
Whoever thought the fast goal would give the Bayer team a real boost was disappointed. The visitors were the better team and had three big chances. Shortly before half-time, centre-forward Karl-Heinz Brücken headed in a fine cross from Hans Dieter Schäde to take a 2-0 lead into the break. At the start of the second half, on 46 minutes, the Lüner sweeper Dieter Zorc, father of the long-standing Dortmund Bundesliga player and manager Michael Zorc, handled the ball in the penalty area. Fredi Hennecken fires the ball from the spot into the roof of the net – 3-0. Bayer 04 now dominate the ball and the opponents. And Lüner SV are downhearted 15 minutes later when Werner Thies converts another cross from Friedhelm Strzelczyk to make it 4-0. A bigger win is missed out on in the last 30 minutes because good chances for Hans Dieter Schäde and Fredi Hennecken go begging.
After that win and a mid-table position of eleventh, the Bayer 04 officials are very confident looking to the future. In the last two matches before Christmas, the Werkself lose 3-1 in Bielefeld but are able to secure their position a week later with a 1-0 home win against SSV Velbert. The spectre of relegation is slowly driven out of the Ulrich Haberland Stadium.
Francoaldo Sena de Souza, known as Franca, was born on 2 March 1976 in Codó in north-eastern Brazil and is one of the best-known Brazilian football players of the late 1990s and early 2000s. His exceptional talent became apparent early on. He began his career at smaller Brazilian clubs before moving to the tradition-steeped São Paulo FC in 1996. There, Franca quickly developed into one of the most dangerous strikers in the league. His technique, goal-scoring instinct and agility delighted fans and pundits alike, and he scored numerous goals for the club over the years.
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Lars Bender was born on 27 April 1989 in Rosenheim and grew up with his twin brother Sven in a football-loving family. They began playing football in Brannenburg, a small community near Rosenheim. The twins joined Unterhaching to play for the U11 side, followed by a move to the U14s at 1860 Munich. There, Lars and Sven became German champions with the U17s, skipped the Lion's U19s and were directly part of the 1860 Munich first and second team squads.
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In this video you can see impressive and important goals in Bayer 04 history from the month of March . It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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Bayer 04 had their backs to the wall after a 3-1 defeat in a rearranged match at FC Kaiserslautern on 17 March 1981. After a throw-in, which the linesman clearly indicated in favour of the Werkself, but which the Lauter team quickly took and the weak referee did not intervene, a dubious penalty was awarded. Lauter took advantage of this to make it 2-1 in the 84th minute. Finally, a shot by the home side, which did not cross the line, made it 3-1 and Bayer 04 had to go home from Betzenberg without any points.
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It was 4 March 1951 and Bayer 04 were five points ahead going into the decisive home game against second-placed SSV Wuppertal, who would merge with TSG Vohwinkel 80 to form Wuppertaler SV three years later. Bayer 04 press officer Heinz Nelles predicted a big matchday at the sports ground at the Stadtpark and recommends Bayer 04 fans to buy their tickets in advance from the usual ticket outlets, especially from Peter Haas at the Trinkhalle Rathaus. After a four-week injury lay-off, centre-forward Emil ‘Bubi’ Becks will be back for the first time. And when the gates to the Stadtpark are opened on Sunday, the spectators stream into the stadium. The windows of the houses on the neighbouring Walter-Nernst-Straße are also packed.
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