In a preview of this game, the former Bayer 04 player Franz Wichelhaus said he would drop the Leverkusen centre forward Fritz Tiede. The blond Fritz, as he was called under the Bayer Cross, was the strong in the air centre forward for the Werkself. Born in Cologne, he came to Leverkusen in 1951 and scored 44 goals for the Werkself in 57 Oberliga matches in his five years at the club. The lofty Fritz did have one handicap – he was longsighted. More than once he was in the opposition half with the ball and before he made a pass he ensured it was one of his teammates: "Walter, is that you?"
That Sunday was another Tiede day. Mönchengladbach were unable to frustrate the tall blond player even with a number of fouls. On 13 minutes, Emil 'Bubi' Becks crossed into the Gladbach penalty area where Fritz Tiede scored with a wonderful flying header. Just four minutes later, the former FC player Walter Nußbaum scored direct from a free kick from 30 metres out to make it 2-0.
That was the half-time score in front of a crowd of 5,000 spectators. In the second half there was end to end action but the match dropped off initially. The Werkself only really came back into the game when Fritz Tiede scored with a brilliant overhead kick on 67 minutes at 3-0. On 89 minutes, Leo Bering made the most of the many chances in the last 20 minutes with a great long-range strike.
The 4-0 victory did not bring the Werkself closer to rivals SV Sodingen but the way the team played provided hope for the remaining seven games.
Tranquillo Barnetta was born in St. Gallen in Switzerland on 22 May 1985. Quillo, as he was called in the football world, has Italian roots. His great-grandfather emigrated from Italy to the east of Switzerland. Quillo was interested in football early on and he played for the St. Gallen club FC Rotmonten from the age of six. He joined his favourite club FC St. Gallen at the age of 11. There he became a youth international. He won the European Championships with his teammates in the Switzerland U17 team in 2002. The youngsters from Switzerland beat France 4-2 on penalties in the final to become U17 European champions.
Show moreSince the establishment of the Bundesliga on 28 July 1962 for the 1963/64 season, there have been five Regional Leagues: North, Berlin, West, South-west and South. The champions of those five leagues qualified directly for promotion play-offs that were played in two groups of four teams. That included the two second-placed teams in the West and South-west Regional Leagues. The two runners-up from the North and the South played a qualifier for the eighth place in the promotion games.
Show moreIn this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of May. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
Show moreThere were high summer temperatures in Leverkusen on 25 May 1985. Matchday 32 brings FC Köln to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium with only 13,000 spectators at the derby. That is primarily due to the Werkself with Bayer 04 rarely impressing in that season and they are eleventh in the table before the game just three points ahead of sixteenth, the play-off spot. But with the two points for a win rule back then – two points were awarded for a win – and with the significantly better goal difference, the Werkself need every point to get out of trouble.
Show moreIt was all or nothing on the final matchday in the Verbandsliga in the 1974/75 season. Only now would it be decided who were champions and thereby participate in the promotion games to the Bundesliga 2 North. The earlier rivals Viktoria Köln, SC Jülich 10 and Bonner SC have fallen by the wayside.
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