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.
Dieter Bast was born in Oberhausen on 28 August 1951. He began playing football in the youth team at DJK Arminia Klosterhardt, a local club in Oberhausen. Whilst training as a toolmaker, he moved to neighbouring club Sterkrade 06/07 to play for their U19s, where he caught the eye of Bundesliga sides Rot-Weiss Essen and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Bast opted for Rot-Weiss and played in the Bundesliga from 1970 onwards. In his very first year, he made 22 appearances as a right winger, scoring three goals. Nevertheless, Essen were unable to avoid relegation.
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José Vítor Roque Júnior was born on 31 August 1976 in Santa Rita do Sapucaí, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As a youth, he played for São José EC, a club in the east of the state of São Paulo. His professional career began in 1995 with Palmeiras São Paulo. There, Roque Júnior quickly established himself as a key player in the team, making more than 200 appearances and enjoying significant success. With the club, he won the Copa do Brasil in 1998 and the Copa Libertadores in 1999, the South American equivalent of the European Champions League.
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In this video you can see impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 from the month of August. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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The Werkself play their first top-flight match in Bayer 04’s history away at Sportfreunde Katernberg. 7,000 spectators turn up at the Am Lindenbruch stadium in that district of Essen. The Katernbergers have transformed the once ‘barren’ pitch into a real gem. On this Sunday afternoon, 19 August 1951, the lush turf provides the perfect conditions for a good game of football.
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Following a thoroughly successful start with a 2–1 home win against VfL Wolfsburg, the Werkself are organising a team event. On Wednesdays, they head to the Nürburgring together and do a few laps at speed. Manager Klaus Toppmöller welcomes this initiative, as it promotes team spirit and integration. During weekly training sessions, the team works extensively on various defensive tactics, as the manager was dissatisfied with his players’ pressing in the final minutes of the match against the Wolves.
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