South Korean striker Bum-kun Cha made it 1-0 from a corner kick on four minutes. When he added the second twelve minutes later and Christian Schreier made it 3-0 with a direct free-kick after 28 minutes, the Ulrich Haberland Stadium was unrecognisable. The crowd went wild and continued to cheer on the Werkself in the second half.
In the end, the 5-1 victory was the biggest Bundesliga win to date and "the company bosses in the VIP stand were speechless with emotion and enthusiasm. All the great speeches and fine words of recent years did not create this atmosphere. They could not. The team with its great play has created an atmosphere that is unique in Leverkusen." (Kicker from 4 November 1985)
That evening, Bayer 04 produced a seamless display and Werder Bremen coach Otto Rehhagel had the last laugh at the post-match press conference with his statement "Bayer 04 are the absolute title favourites for me". Nobody believed that in the 1980s, that would really be too incredible. But at least the Werkself qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time at the end of the season.
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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