Ahead of the last matchday on 11 May 1975, the Werkself are top of the table on 43 points followed by SC Brühl just one point behind. Both teams have away games against sides from mid-table. Bayer 04 are away to SG Eschweiler, SC Brühl are at FV Godesberg. A winner for the Werkself would make Bayer 04 champions, a draw for both teams the same, Brühl could only draw level with the Werkself if they picked up one more point than Bayer 04 and then there would be a play-off on a neutral pitch as the goal difference was relevant.
SC Brühl again pull out all the stops and appeal against the 2-1 defeat in Leverkusen a week before. The reason: Coach Fritz Pott was asked to leave the pitch before the end of the game by the police. The Brühl players were in a state of shock and concede the winner to make it 2-1 to the Werkself on 93 minutes. But there was little prospect of the appeal being successful. The appeals board reject the Brühl claim although Bayer 04 receive a fine of 200 Deutschmarks due to insufficient security.
A number of Bayer 04 supporters travel to the decider in Eschweiler to support their team. 1,500 spectators come to the Stadion Patternhof and witness the hosts take a shock lead against the Werkself on five minutes. The Werkself do settle down when Klaus Röhrig levels on 40 minutes. At the same time, SC Brühl are 2-1 up at half-time in Godesberg.
Bayer 04 dominate proceedings in the second half but are unable to break down the solid SG Eschweiler defence. The hosts recover towards the end of the game but the match ends in a fair 1-1 draw. And the worrying begins.
Of course, the Bayer 04 officials have a hotline to Godesberg and know that Brühl are leading 2-1 at half-time. The Leverkusen players go off into the dressing room after the final whistle with heads bowed and severely disappointed faces, and nobody is surprised to hear the latest information from Godesberg: Brühl have won 4-2.
"We are short of a goal and a point in the end," says coach Manfred Rummel who was rueing missed chances and not just in this game. "The decider against Brühl is on Wednesday at the Geißbockstadion at 18:00," says football boss Hermann Büchel in the dressing room. The players think there's at least another decider.
Then comes the completely unexpected turnaround. Officials from the Middle Rhine FA enter the Bayer 04 dressing room with flowers – as congratulations. Bayer 04 are champions of the Middle Rhine Verbandsliga as they were a year before. Players, coaches, directors and the numerous supporters embrace each other. The apocalyptic mood in the Bayer 04 dressing room has suddenly disappeared. "A reliable source tells us Brühl have drawn 2-2. You are champions. We offer our congratulations and best wishes for the promotion games," say the two Middle Rhine officials.
The Werkself players begin a new adventure with the start of the promotion play-offs to Bundesliga 2 North on 25 May 1975. The competition is made up of the Lower Rhine champions Union Solingen and Arminia Hannover the runners-up from the Oberliga North introduced in 1974. In this group of three teams, the top two go straight up to Bundesliga 2 North.
On the first matchday, Union Solingen beat Arminia Hannover 2-0 at home. A week later, on 25 May, Bayer 04 travel north to Hannover. Two days before the game, the squad led by coach Manfred Rummel go to a training camp at the Hotel Blumenparadies Elfenborn. In the evening they get their first taste of the Bundesliga 2 North by watching the game between Hannover 96 and Arminia Bielefeld. There will be another rigorous training session on Saturday morning at the TuS Langeholzhausen pitch.
The interest from Bayer 04 fans in supporting their team in Hannover is greater than expected. 75 tickets have been sold by Saturday night and two coaches with a total of 90 optimistic Bayer 04 fans on board set off at nine o'clock on Sunday morning.
The game in front of 5,000 spectators is less than first class. The Werkself are very good in defence and Gerd Kentschke leads the way brilliantly. Nevertheless, the hosts take the lead on 36 minutes thanks to an unfortunate own goal by Hans-Werner Marx. But Gerd Kentschke levels seven minutes later with a header. That is the score at half-time.
The Werkself are lucky after the restart when the Lower Saxons hit the post. With minds focussed on maintaining the valuable level scoreline, Bayer 04 lose their way slightly in the middle of the second half and Arminia Hannover get the upper hand. But Gerd Kentschke exploits a mistake in the Hannover defence. He fires in a cross for centre-forward Manfred Schumann to smash a header into the net on 65 minutes to make it 2-1. Arminia are exhausted at the end of the game and a win is more than deserved. The first home game of the promotion matches against Union Solingen follows a week later.
Bernd Schneider, born in Jena on 17 November 1973, spent his early years in the German Democratic Republic. He took his first steps in football at the two Jena clubs BSG Aufbau and FC Carl Zeiss, the biggest club in his hometown. He played in the second division for six years in the 90s. Bernd Schneider stood out as an accomplished dribbler with his experience from street football always evident. His nickname Schnix comes from the Thuringian dialect: ‘Schnixeln’ is a synonym for dribbling, being able to control the ball. After Jena were relegated in 1998, Schnix went in the opposite direction. Newly promoted Eintracht Frankfurt brought into the Bundesliga. He spent a year there.
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18 June 1950 saw a friendly match for FC Köln, formed from the merger of two clubs in February 1948, against the Werkself at the Stadion Am Stadtpark. The two teams had already faced each other in May 1949 as winners of the Rhine district leagues in the final for promotion to the Oberliga West. The new club from Cologne came out on top in the two games and were promoted.
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In a messed-up season in 1984/85 everybody is happy that the battle against relegation is over before the final matchday. The visitors are UEFA Cup contenders SV Waldhof Mannheim in front of a sparse 6,000 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. The Waldhof lads under their coach Klaus Schlappner are the surprise packet of the season. In their second campaign in the Bundesliga, the team from Mannheim are fifth on 35 points (with two points for a win back then) ahead of the game in Leverkusen and in a UEFA Cup qualifying spot. Two points behind them are Bayer 05 Uerdingen and Hamburg SV.
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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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