Bayer 04 Leverkusen were relegated from the Regional League to the Middle Rhine Association League in 1973 and thereby no longer amongst the professional teams. That relegation was doubly annoying because no team was promoted to the Regional League West in 1973/74. The DFB decided to turn the five Regional Leagues into the Bundesliga and two Bundesliga 2s North and South and that meant Bayer 04 only had the chance to get promoted in the 1974/75 season.
The Middle Rhine championship in 1973/74 was out of reach for the Werkself but they do play in the finals of the German Amateur Championship going out to Victoria Hamburg in the second round.
A new coach takes over the helm for the 1974/75 season. Manfred Rummel, former striker at Black and White Essen and a German Cup winner with them in 1959, is now in charge of the team with the cross on their chests. And a young striker joins the Werkself from Frechen 20: Matthias Brücken. As there were no major departures, Bayer 04 were favourites to take top spot in the Middle Rhine Association League with the associated opportunity to gain promotion to Bundesliga 2 North.
That happened in 1975. That paved the way to promotion to the Bundesliga four years later. In the following months we will follow this team on the way back into professional football and discover that it was not as easy as it appeared at the start of the 1974/75 season.
Legends like Gerd Kentschke, Hubert Makel and Matthias Brücken are familiar to many Bayer 04 fans. But we also had players like Manfred Vetter, Willi Rehbach, Peter Surbach and Dieter Axemacher who also made their contribution to taking Bayer 04 Leverkusen back to where the club belonged: in professional football.
On 25 August 1974, the team under coach Manfred Rummel faced SV Bergfried in the first round of the Middle Rhine Pokal. The Black and Reds looked listless in pouring rain and not only avoided challenges but also huge puddles of water. Gerd Kentschke was the outstanding player on the day scoring twice and he was also involved in the remaining three goals netted by Klaus Röhrig, Matthias Brücken and Dieter Axemacher. Here is the Werkself line-up:
Hubert Makel – Hans-Werner Marx, Peter Litzinger, Willi Rehbach, Manfred Vetter, Wolfgang Fabian, Matthias Brücken, Gerd Kentschke, Manfred Schumann, Dieter Axemacher, Klaus Röhrig. Peter Surbach comes on for Dieter Axemacher in the second half.
The first league matchday took place a week later with Bayer 04 away to newly promoted Godesberger FV. But that match was in September.
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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