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.
Arne Larsen Økland was born on 31 May 1954 in Bømlo, Norway. As a boy, he was interested in football and fishing. He’d spend his days in the fjords fishing for cod. At some point, he joined the local football club SK Vard Heugesund. Later, at the age of 23, he joined Bryne IL. The club was playing in the first division at the time and Økland became its top striker. But there was relatively little money to be made in Norwegian football, and he received no more than the equivalent of €1500 a year. Football was nothing more than a hobby. Arne Larsen's main job was as a tax auditor.
Show more
Hans Jörg Butt was born on 28 May 1974 in Oldenburg. Jörg, or Butti as he was known to his teammates, played for TSV Großenkneten in his youth. In 1991, he transferred to VfB Oldenburg, for whom he played his first games in the senior team in 1994/95. In the Regionalliga Nord, he played 33 times in the first season and 34 times in the second season for the North Germans, with whom he was also promoted to Bundesliga 2. He made a name for himself for the first time in the promotion season with his speciality of scoring penalties. He netted four times for Oldenburg.
Show more
The 1948/49 season saw the first major clash with 1. FC Köln. Both teams become champions of their respective Rhine district leagues and would compete against each other for promotion to the Oberliga West. Sportvereinigung Bayer 04 Leverkusen, as our club had been known since December 1948, went for a short training camp at the Bayer recreation centre in Dabringhausen/Große Ledder for the first time and focused on its preparations in the idyllic rural setting.
Show more
In this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of May. It isn’t always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
Show more
On Sunday, 5 May 2019, UEFA Europa League semi-finalists Eintracht Frankfurt came to a sold-out BayArena. Three days after their first leg against Chelsea, Eintracht coach Adi Hütter made four changes to his team. With three games left to go in the Bundesliga campaign, both teams were competing for important points in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification. Frankfurt were in fourth place on 54 points, three above Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer 04.
Show more