Dr. Jürgen Schwericke: From 1975 to the reunion of TuS 04 and SV Bayer 04 in 1984, he was the president of SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen and in that role he played a significant part in the promotion to the Bundesliga. He was rarely seen in the stands in the second half of games as he preferred to spend time on the edge of the pitch, preferably next to the opposition goal, to be closer to the action. HERE is an announcement in honour of Dr. Jürgen Schwericke.
Richard Seuser: The gentleman on the left in the second photo. He had been a club member since 1907 and one of the first footballers. He later went on to manage our club as a member of the football committee and, above all, in his role as the deputy chairman of Bayer 04, a post he held for a long time. Seuser, after over 40 years working on the Bayer 04 board, finally retired in 1971 and he was then named the honorary chairman. He died in 1993 at the age of 100.
Gustav Schmitz: The gentleman on the right in the second photo. The first groundsman at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium and the adjoining training pitches was responsible for looking after the turf at Bayer 04 for a total of 19 years up to his retirement in 1976. He has passed on his love for the club and "his" turf as his grandson Georg is now our head groundsman.
Harald Wohner: The man on the left in the third photo. He worked at the club from 1956, first looking after the Reserve and Amateur teams and later he was the kit man for the senior squad in the 1980s. For almost 40 years he was primarily responsible for looking after the players’ boots and he had to tolerate one or two foibles from me. He passed away after a long illness in 2018 shortly after meeting up with the UEFA Cup winners. HERE is the announcement in honour of Harald Wohner.
Dieter Treckentrup: Dieter knew every first team player and coach at Bayer 04 over many years. I don't think he ever missed a training session in the 80s or 90s. His written analysis of the next opponents and his recommended line-ups for the Bayer 04 coaches are legendary. The players also received free advice on their way from the dressing room to the training ground. Dieter was simply a one-off!
Other images from the match:
Minas Hantzidis was born on 4 July 1966 in Kettwig, near Essen, and he grew up in Germany. He developed a passion for football at a young age and, whilst still a youth player, moved from Wuppertaler SV to Bayer 04. The attacking and goal-scoring midfielder then made a name for himself in his first senior season at Bayer 04. In the reserve team, he scored goal after goal in the first half of the season, soon began training with the first team and was brought on as a substitute for the first time by manager Erich Ribbeck on 22 November 1985 in a home match against Bayern Munich.
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Sascha was born on 3 July 1986 in Leverkusen. He is the son of former Bundesliga 2 player Manfred Dum, who mainly scored goals for Union Solingen but also played for FC Saarbrücken, SC Freiburg and Wuppertaler SV. Sascha started playing for the youth teams at HSV Langenfeld at an early age. There, he caught the eye of scouts from Bayer 04 and joined the club at a young age. Following a growth spurt in the U15 team, which forced him to take a nine-month break, the left-footed player finally had the ideal conditions to establish himself in the Bayer 04 youth ranks. Even as an U17 player, he made the leap into the U19 team. Blessed with immense pace, Sascha primarily played in attacking midfield. Not the most technically gifted, but possessing a powerful shot, he found himself training with the first team in the summer of 2005 alongside Gonzalo Castro, while he was still a U19 player.
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The Werkself could not have hoped for a better start to the Bundesliga 2 North season in 1976/77. At the end of a week-long training camp in Quickborn, Schleswig-Holstein, coach Willibert Kremer’s side secured two convincing victories over BSC Brunsbüttel (5–0) and TuS Holstein Quickborn (6–0). Following this flying start, Bayer 04 faced a considerably tougher challenge on 23 July 1976 at 19:30 CEST at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against Bundesliga side Karlsruher SC.
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On 27 June 2001, new head coach Klaus Toppmöller and his assistant Peter Hermann led the Werkself out of the changing rooms for their first training session. Joining them as they stepped onto the pitch at training ground 1 were the four new signings: Hans Jörg Butt, Yildiray Bastürk (with special permission from VfL Bochum, as Bayer 04 and VfL had not yet agreed on a transfer fee), Zoltan Sebescen and Michael Zepek, the record holder for appearances for the youth national team.
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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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