In front of 20,000 spectators at the Glückauf Kampfbahn, the Royal Blues bombard the goal minded brilliantly by Fredy Mutz. From the kick-off, it is a closely fought encounter with chances for both sides. With 28 minutes on the clock, centre forward Fritz Tiede beats two Schalke defenders and calmly slots the ball into the far corner of the net to make it 1-0. That is the scoreline at half-time.
The Royal Blues grow stronger after the restart but goalkeeper Fredy Mutz excels himself. And if it looks like he's beaten then a Leverkusen defender comes to the rescue.
Referee Halfes from Rheydt awards a penalty to the hosts on 58 minutes for a handball by a Bayer Leverkusen player in the penalty area. The Schalke centre back Paul Matzkowski steps up and hammers the ball at the goal. Mutz goes the right way and makes the save. And he also keeps out a follow-up shot on the rebound. The ensuing minutes see urgent attacks by Schalke alongside clever counter-attacks by the Werkself but there are no more goals.
The eleven Leverkusen players raise their arms in celebration at the end of the game. A great defensive performance by the players from the paints town see them take both points from the Glückauf Kampfbahn providing help for the Goats from Cologne who go top of the Oberliga West on their own after a home win against Meidericher SV.
Hans Sarpei was born on 28 June 1976 in Tema, Ghana, and came to Germany with his parents at the age of three, where he grew up in Cologne. Even before he was born, his mother and father worked in Hamburg in the import-export sector. There they met an older man who introduced them to German culture and supported them. Out of gratitude, Hans was later given his first name, although this man died before he was born. Hans comes from a sporting family; his older brother Edward and his nephews Hans Nunoo Sarpei and Kingsley Sarpei were or are also professional footballers.
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On 3 June 1953, Hans-Josef (‘Sepp’) Kretschmann became the fifth coach in the history of Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Born in Allenstein, East Prussia, on 21 March 1902, the football coach first studied to become a teacher before later switching to football. He took over the Werkself from Franz Strehle, under whom the team twice managed to stay in the 1st Oberliga West. However, Strehle did not extend his contract in Leverkusen after these two very successful years.
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After promotion to Bundesliga North 2 in the summer of 1975, Bayer 04 are fighting relegation just eight months later. The club expects full commitment from everyone in this precarious situation. Promotion coach Manfred Rummel is to give up his main job as a teacher at the Mülheim special school and become a full-time coach at Bayer 04. The coach, who is very popular with the team, does not see himself in a position to fulfil the club's request. Despite a 2-0 home win against SpVgg Erkenschwick, Manfred Rummel is put on gardening leave by "mutual agreement".
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Bayer 04, already been promoted to the 1st Oberliga West, played friendly after friendly in the second half of May 1951. And that continued throughout the following month.
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Jacek Krzynowek was born on 15 May 1976 in Kamiensk, Poland, and grew up as a typical country boy. He spent his childhood less in structured training sessions and more on simple pitches, where he spent hours playing football with older boys. He realised early on that he had exceptional shooting power and enormous stamina. But for a long time, he didn't appreciate just how much talent he had. While others dream of a great career, professional football initially seems like a distant world to him that he only knows from television.
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