Unfortunately, coach Raymond Schwab is missing two important players. Left winger Paul Wiorek is suspended due to his red card from the last match and centre forward Emil Becks is injured. Hans Flohr and Reinhold Pütz will start in their place. A strong Bayer team put the Cologne team under pressure right from the start. But the first blow came in the 27th minute - 0-1. Karl-Heinz Spikofski equalised four minutes later, but the visitors took the lead again before half-time. A Werkself playing well were unfortunate to go behind. Coach Raymond Schwab made a few changes for the second half. He moved the strong centre-forward Hans Flohr to left-back, but from then on nothing went right for the Werkself, who were too slow and ponderous. Goalkeeper Helmut Rennen also had a nightmare. With his help, SC West Köln scored twice more and the game ended in a disappointing 4-1 defeat. 5,000 spectators either went home disappointed after the game - or to the funfair.
A week later, the Werkself travel to Remscheid. They are away to VfL Marathon at the Glockenkampfbahn. 3,000 spectators want to see this game, with Bayer 04 lining up with a new goalkeeper. For the first time, Hans Müller is in goal in place of Helmut Rennen, who was out of sorts in the last home game. And he surprises with an impeccable performance. Still without Paul Wiorek, who has now been given a four-match ban by the association, and Emil Becks, but this time with Guido Hartmann on the left wing, the team from the Farbenstadt achieved an away win they thought was impossible. After an evenly balanced game in the first half, right winger Theo Kirchberg gave Bayer 04 a deserved lead in the 69th minute, as the Werkself were on the front foot in the second half adding another nine minutes after Guido Hartmann's first goal. An outstanding set of halfbacks with the tall Peter Röger, captain Hans Frömmel and dynamo Heinz Papenhoff dominated the ball and the opposition in the second half. As a result, coach Raymond Schwab's team picked up two important away points.
With nine points, Bayer 04 are third in the table and set to face the Preußen from Krefeld, who are level on points, in their next home game. Once again, press officer Nelles takes goes for motivation in his article in the ‘Bayer 04 Sprachrohr’ as he encourages all Leverkusen fans to come and provide vocal support the Stadtpark has never heard before. The spectators saw a Bayer team with a slight edge on the pitch, but the visitors from Krefeld also had chances to score. They even took the lead on 41 minutes, but Karl-Heinz Spikofski equalised immediately from the kick-off. Both teams start the second half with a strong desire to win. There is a lot of commotion among the spectators when the visitors' keeper handles the ball behind the goal line. From this moment on, the game becomes heated and the referee is not always in control.
A quick counter-attack by Preußen put the visitors back in front, but Theo Kirchberg scored a deserved equaliser in the 65th minute. The Krefeld team now defended their goal, albeit with great vigour - Karl Heinz Spikofski and Hans Flohr had to go off but returned to the pitch after a short recovery period. Ten minutes before the end, Karl-Heinz Spikofski managed to score the much-celebrated winner at 3-2 from an assist by Theo Kirchberg. Bayer 04 are now level on points with SC West Köln and just one point behind league leaders Rapid Köln in third place in the table with 11 points.
For the next away match against SSV Wuppertal, one of the two founding clubs of Wuppertaler SV alongside TSG Vohwinkel 80, a large number of Bayer 04 supporters accompany their team to the Stadion am Zoo. The 8,000 spectators watch a fast-paced game in Oberliga style. Both teams shone with great moves and battling commitment. After the score was 0-0 at half-time, right winger Theo Kirchberg scored the only goal of the entire match from an almost impossible angle. The Werkself were able to control the final minutes of the game and travelled to Leverkusen with a fortunate but not undeserved 1:0 victory.
On 29 October, Leverkusen spectators can look forward to a packed programme at the stadium. After the women's field handball team's championship match at 10 a.m., the men play TuS 82 Opladen at 11 a.m. in a local derby. Once the reserve teams have finished their game, which starts at 1.15 pm, the first team will take to the pitch at 3 pm. Their opponents are TuRu Düsseldorf. Despite constant rain, 3,000 spectators gather in the stands to watch a fast and varied game. Left winger Paul Wiorek has finally served his suspension and is back in the starting eleven.
All eleven Bayer players are wide awake from the very first minute and really test the TuRu defence with their constant changes of position. A double strike by Richard Job from a corner kick and Theo Kirchberg from Paul Wiorek's cross in the 21st and 23rd minutes put the Werkself on the road to victory. In the second half, however, Bayer 04 were no longer able to invigorate the fans. The Leverkusen fans stand in the rain waiting for the final whistle, just like their team. After this 2-0 victory, Bayer 04 Leverkusen are top of the Oberliga West 2 for the first time.
Hans Sarpei was born on 28 June 1976 in Tema, Ghana, and came to Germany with his parents at the age of three, where he grew up in Cologne. Even before he was born, his mother and father worked in Hamburg in the import-export sector. There they met an older man who introduced them to German culture and supported them. Out of gratitude, Hans was later given his first name, although this man died before he was born. Hans comes from a sporting family; his older brother Edward and his nephews Hans Nunoo Sarpei and Kingsley Sarpei were or are also professional footballers.
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On 3 June 1953, Hans-Josef (‘Sepp’) Kretschmann became the fifth coach in the history of Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Born in Allenstein, East Prussia, on 21 March 1902, the football coach first studied to become a teacher before later switching to football. He took over the Werkself from Franz Strehle, under whom the team twice managed to stay in the 1st Oberliga West. However, Strehle did not extend his contract in Leverkusen after these two very successful years.
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After promotion to Bundesliga North 2 in the summer of 1975, Bayer 04 are fighting relegation just eight months later. The club expects full commitment from everyone in this precarious situation. Promotion coach Manfred Rummel is to give up his main job as a teacher at the Mülheim special school and become a full-time coach at Bayer 04. The coach, who is very popular with the team, does not see himself in a position to fulfil the club's request. Despite a 2-0 home win against SpVgg Erkenschwick, Manfred Rummel is put on gardening leave by "mutual agreement".
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Bayer 04, already been promoted to the 1st Oberliga West, played friendly after friendly in the second half of May 1951. And that continued throughout the following month.
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Jacek Krzynowek was born on 15 May 1976 in Kamiensk, Poland, and grew up as a typical country boy. He spent his childhood less in structured training sessions and more on simple pitches, where he spent hours playing football with older boys. He realised early on that he had exceptional shooting power and enormous stamina. But for a long time, he didn't appreciate just how much talent he had. While others dream of a great career, professional football initially seems like a distant world to him that he only knows from television.
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