
Lehnhoff started his playing career in 1984 at FC Köln before moving to Belgium in 1987 where he proved to be very successful as a winger for FC Royal Antwerp – winning the Belgian cup competition in 1992 and in the following year reaching the final of the European Cup Winners Cup. And he is still very much revered in Antwerp many years later: On the 125th anniversary of the oldest football club in Belgium, he was voted the best player in the club's history.
Hans-Peter signed for Bayer 04 in 1994. The 57-year-old can look back at a turbulent time in a Werkself shirt: After narrowly avoiding relegation in 1996, he was twice runner-up in the next two seasons. Since retiring from the game – he does still occasionally play for the Bayer 04 Veterans – he has worked as the team liaison manager, the first in German professional football. In this role, he takes care of organisational matters involving the Werkself such as coordinating events and booking hotels.
Happy birthday, Hans-Peter Lehnhoff.
















Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career working as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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During the international break, Bayer 04 will face third-division newcomers SC Fortuna Köln on Friday 2 October (kick-off: 11:00 CEST). The match will be played on training pitch 1 at the BayArena, as preparations are already underway at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium for the Bayer 04 women’s Bundesliga home match against Werder Bremen, which is due to kick off in the early evening. To ensure the friendly against Fortuna Köln runs smoothly and without disruption, it will be played behind closed doors.
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The BAYER 04 HILFT Day is celebrating an anniversary: for the tenth year running, a large number of employees of the Bundesliga club have been getting involved in a community project in Leverkusen and the surrounding area. Following the refurbishment of the city library last year, this time around some 70 staff members rolled up their sleeves to help out at the Bunker Youth Centre in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf. With the support of the Lebenshilfe workshops in Leverkusen and partner Coca-Cola, a rubber football pitch was laid, a Bayer 04-style lounge was created and other projects were carried out. Werkself players and coaching staff also gave their all.
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