After the opening goal from the Bayer 04 defender, there were chances at both ends but both the woodwork for Oberhausen as well as the poor conclusion of counter-attacks for the Werkself as the game went on prevented any other goals. The Bayer team were third in the table level on points with Arminia Bielefeld and Rot-Weiß Essen.
Ahead of the next home game on Sunday, 8 October 1967, our team had their first training camp. On Friday night, coach Theo Kirchberg and his players boarded the bus and made their way to the Hotel ‘Bergische Schweiz’ in Engelskirchen to be able to prepare for the next game against Westfalia Herne far away from the noise of the city. From that game on it was part of the preparations although coach Kirchberg rounded off the run-in on Friday with the final training session. The players were supposed to build up power and energy in these two nights of peace and quiet. Saturday was free time for everybody. The great comradeship became ever tighter with games of Skat, walks and football tennis.
For the game against Westfalia Herne, only goalkeeper Hans Benzler was ruled out after collapsing in the previous match in Oberhausen. He was replaced by Friedhelm Renno. The Werkself showed their ability in front of 7,000 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium: Fitness, commitment and the absolute desire to win the game. The Westphalian team sat back from the start and the Bayer 04 fans had to wait up to minutes 63 before Friedhelm Strzelczyk netted the opening goal with a shot from the edge of the box. Helmut ‘Bello’ Richert netted a second goal on 82 minutes and, as the stadium announcer gave the results from the other matches in the Regional League West and announced that Bayer 04 were top of the league again, there was unlimited joy amongst the fans.
The next Sunday brought another home game. Hamborn 07 in eighth place came to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium and they took the lead on five minutes but Helmut Brücken responded to that goal by putting Bayer 04 2-1 up with goals on six and eight minutes. The Werkself increasingly gained the upper hand but the courageous Hamborn players improved in the second half and put the Bayer 04 defence under pressure once or twice. A counter-attack involving Klaus Görtz settled matters with the score at 3-1.
The Bayer 04 board now thought about promotion for the first time. "Food gives you an appetite" was a quote from sporting board member Heinz Papenhoff in the Stadt Anzeiger. The former Werkself player of the 1950s was very confident that the necessary conditions for a possible promotion to the Bundesliga were possible. At the same time, the coach and players were sceptical with only masseur Hans Bochniak seeing it differently: "Now we are top and we want to stay there!" (Kicker on 16.10.1967)
The Werkself then faced Bielefeld as league leaders. Only a few Bayer 04 fans made their way to Eastern Westphalia including the landlord of the Gaststätte Burghof on Rathenaustraße who hired a bus for the journey to the match. The game became the hoped-for top match and the Werkself were caught napping. The score was 2-0 after ten minutes but Helmut Richert pulled a goal back five minutes later. The Bayer team took control in the second half and bombarded the Bielefeld goal. The reward was a 3-2 lead thanks to goals from Karl-Heinz Brücken and Friedhelm Strzelczyk. The Werkself survived the last 30 minutes with a good amount of smart play and healthy strength as they remained the surprise team in the regional League West. A dry response from Helmut Richert to the unexpected away win: "Now we only need another two or three wins to avoid relegation."
The golden October was to be rounded off with a home win against Lüner SV but the Westphalians refused to play along. A very impressive performance brought Leverkusen to the edge of defeat. With a lot of luck, Leo Wilden netted the leveller on 86 minutes in front of 7,500 spectators. As Rot-Weiß Essen won their away game in Herne 3-1, Bayer 04 dropped to second place as they prepared for the next away game at VfR Neuß.
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.
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Since 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.
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In 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.
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There 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.
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It 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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