From November 1958, the Werkself played their home games at the Stadtpark ground as the pitch at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, completed in 1958, was so damaged in a friendly against MSV Duisburg due to faulty drainage with the result games were moved to an alternative venue. Bayer 04 played the rest of their home games at their old Stadtpark ground.
In spring weather, Bayer 04 took the lead in the first minute with a goal from Horst Stollenwerk. He played alongside two other players from the youth set-up in the shape of Werner Röhrig and Heinz Höher. Heinz Müller was in goal in place of the injured keeper Fredy Mutz. An exciting game developed up to half-time where WSV equalised 20 minutes later and shortly after that took the lead. Heinz Höher levelled at 2-2 before half-time in front of a crowd of 3,500.
Heinz Höher was not the only future Bundesliga coach as the Wuppertal team included a young and ambitious defender called Erich Ribbeck who led the Werkself to the UEFA Cup final win in 1988. Horst Szymaniak was pulling the strings in midfield and he later went on to play in Italy at the start of the 1960s for Catania, Inter Milan and FC Varese in the Italian top-flight.
In the second half, the Wuppertal centre forward Ulrich Kohn put his team ahead again on 69 minutes but the Bayer 04 fans were able to celebrate an equaliser at 3-3 with another goal scored by Horst Stollenwerk.
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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