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.
Thomas Hörster was born in Essen on 27 November 1956. As a child, he took part in high diving and judo, but was also passionate about football. After starting out at Blau-Weiß Holsterhausen-Essen, he moved on to ETB Schwarz-Weiß Essen. As a U19 player, he trained with the senior side for the first time. And at just under 18 years of age, Thommy – as he is known – made his debut in Bundesliga 2. Over two-and-a-half seasons, he made 71 appearances for Schwarz-Weiß Essen.
Show more
Bernd Dreher was born in Leverkusen on 2 November 1966 and he began playing football at SV Schlebusch at the age of five. At the age of nine, he joined the youth academy at Bayer 04. There, the goalkeeper progressed through all the youth teams and, with the U19s in 1985, he reached the final of the German Championship, that Bayer 04 lost 4-2 to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Show more
Robson Ponte was born on 6 November 1976 in São Paulo. He began his football career in Brazil with CA Juventus. He then played for América FC and Guarani FC. In 1999, he joined Bayer 04. Robson initially played for the Werkself until 2001. He then moved to VfL Wolfsburg on a two-year loan. There, he continued to develop and gained valuable experience in the Bundesliga. In 2003, he returned to Leverkusen, where he particularly showcased his dribbling skills and his ability in attacking midfield. In total, he made 79 appearances for Bayer 04 and scored six goals.
Show more
In this video you can see impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 from the month of November. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
Show more
On Sunday, 4 November 1951, the first league derby between Bayer 04 and FC Köln took place. The FC Köln stadium in Müngersdorf was absolutely bursting at the seams for this clash. A veritable invasion of Bayer 04 fans from Leverkusen set off for Cologne by tram and bus. From midday onwards, in addition to the scheduled services, six extra tram services ran at the standard fare from Leverkusen Town Hall to the stadium in Cologne. At the same time, buses operated by Grein ran regularly from Wiesdorf market square to Cologne. In the end, over 5,000 Bayer 04 fans waved their black and red flags in the stands at the FC Köln stadium and got behind their team for ninety minutes.
Show more
