
The Leverkusen city clash was played on Sunday 28 July in front of 4,000 spectators. The weather was sunny with pleasant temperatures. Not so pleasant was the shale pitch at Bühl that presented the Bayer 04 players with problems. The incredible happened on 76 minutes: Krumbach made it 1-0 for the Black and Yellows. Bayer 04 were lucky and can thank goalkeeper Hans Benzler that the defeat was not by a bigger margin. The Werkself had one chance to level with a free kick from Klaus Görtz that drew a brilliant save from the Schlebusch keeper Schiller as turned the ball onto the post. The clearly peeved Bayer 04 coach Theo Kirchberg summed up the game as follows: "Professional players must be able to beat an amateur team on a hard pitch. There are no excuses. It's a disgrace for us."






Revenge came a year later and this time the professional players made no mistakes from the start. Bayer 04 sailed through to the second round with a 7-0 victory.
The third and to date the last time there was a clash with SV Schlebusch was on 25 July 1971. Bayer 04 clocked up a 5-1 victory in front of 2,000 spectators.

Michael Ballack was born on 26 September 1976 in Görlitz, in what was then East Germany. His talent for football became apparent at an early age. After his family moved to Karl-Marx-Stadt – now Chemnitz – he began playing football for BSG Motor ‘Fritz Heckert’ Karl-Marx-Stadt, where he steadily developed his skills. From Year 7 onwards, he attended the Children’s and Youth Sports School and received systematic sporting support, which, in 1988 – due to his growing skill as a player – led to a move to FC Karl-Marx-Stadt. At the age of 16, he had to take a six-month break due to growth problems, but after that, Michael was unstoppable.
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José Elias Moedim Júnior, known as Zé Elias, was born on 25 September 1976 in São Paulo. He received his football training at Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, or Corinthians for short, and was promoted to the first team at the age of just 17. PSV Eindhoven had already taken notice of him by this stage, but the move to Europe was still too early for him. The tenacious defensive midfielder established himself in the first team over the following three years. With Corinthians, Zé Elias won the São Paulo City Championship and the Brazilian Cup in 1995. With his excellent vision, his determination and his assured ball control, he made a significant contribution to his team’s success.
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In their second season in Bundesliga 2 North, the Werkself face Fortuna Köln at their home ground, the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, on matchday 7. Both teams are level on seven points, sitting eighth and ninth in the table.
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In this video you can see impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 from the month of September. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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September gets off to a disastrous start, though not for the Werkself: the German national team, featuring Bayer 04 players Jens Nowotny, Michael Ballack and Oliver Neuville, suffer a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of England in a World Cup qualifier at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. Jens Nowotny, in particular, came in for sharp criticism. With this defeat, Germany’s direct qualification is now hanging in the balance.
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