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The next day we had a light training session at a Hertha ground on Siebenendenweg in Zehlendorf. However, nobody knew about it and the gates were locked. There was only one alternative: climb and jump over the gate. We were lucky nobody was injured.
When we woke up the next morning on the day of the match it felt like the temperature had dropped by 20 degrees and it was raining. The many Bayer 04 fans, who set off to Berlin on the matchday from Leverkusen in bright sunshine and high temperatures by bus, car or on special trains, were in for a chilly surprise on arrival. And nobody was prepared for rain. Bayer 04 general manager Reiner Calmund reacted immediately. He organised 10,000 red cagoules and distributed them to the Bayer fans.
Coach Dragoslav Stepanovic set out the approach to the game in a final pre-match meeting. We wanted to play with focus, commitment and pressure. Don't give anything away and take our chances.
There was great tension in the bus on the way to the match. Everybody is self-absorbed and focus on their job. It's the same in the dressing room until the Hertha lads arrived in the dressing room next door. Loud music booms out from a music system. "Eye Of The Tiger" by the group Survivor from the Rocky film is ringing in our ears but does not disturb our preparations. As the Women's final is being played, we go to warm up on the Mayfeld. With studs on asphalt, through loads of people and back again after warming up. But there weren't any comments or at least I didn't hear them because I was focused on the game.
We took control from the start to non-stop whistles from 60,000 Berliners. As Hertha rarely got the ball to launch their own attacks, the whistles formed a constant sound in the stadium. The scoreline at half-time was 0-0 but that does not put us off at all. We carried out the orders of the coach to not give anything away and we created one or two slight chances.
The breakthrough comes on 77 minutes. From a Pavel Hapal cross, Ulf Kirsten rises highest to head home the only goal of the game. There is boundless celebration at the final whistle. Basically we only achieved what everybody expected of us but it was a big relief for us to have deservedly won the cup even if the results was not so emphatic.
When the cup was presented, ARD just switched over to show the Tagesschau news programme. It was similar in the evening with the Aktuelles Sportstudio on ZDF. Only the Bayer 04 fans are happy like us and the same on the next day at the town hall. After our own party in the evening and little sleep, we flew to Cologne the next morning. From there we went by bus to the town hall in Leverkusen to be welcomed by a crowd of 5,000 Bayer 04 fans. Some of them had been in the stadium the day before and had travelled through the night.
It was my second title with my Bayer but also unfortunately the last one. It's time for another one again!
A longer report on the cup triumph in 1993 (in German) is in a special edition of the Werkself Magazine available HERE.
Wolfgang Vöge was born on 15 September 1955 in Ahlen, Westphalia and he was the fourth of seven children of a miner. His father, Erich Vöge, was a football referee as well. At an early age, Wolle, as he was called by his friends and teammates, developed a great passion for football and was an enthusiastic fan of BVB. His first success in football was achieved in the amateur game at his hometown club of SV Ahlen. He scored 26 goals in the first season and he came to the attention of scouts. That led to his move to Borussia Dortmund in 1975.
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Andreas Thom was born on 7 September 1965 in Rüdersdorf near Berlin in Brandenburg. Andreas displayed an exceptional talent on the ball even as a child. Early on, he joined the youth section at BFC Dynamo Berlin, one of the leading football clubs in the German Democratic Republic. There he received targeted, performance-oriented training as part of the GDR sports system. His talent, his vision and his technique led him to make his debut in the first team at BFC Dynamo at the age of 17.
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Jens Melzig was born in Cottbus on 28 September 1965. Melle, as he was called at Leverkusen, started his playing career at his hometown club Energie Cottbus. As a young player there he soon stood out thanks to his strength in challenges and his ability to read the game. He was in the Energie Cottbus first team in 1984 and he played for the club in the GDR league and the Oberliga. With 144 appearances and twelve goals he became one of the big players in defence. He made a major contribution to the club during this period – as a strong-tackling central defender who also displayed leadership qualities.
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Lucio, full name Lucimar Ferreira da Silva, was born on 8 May 1978 in Planaltina, a suburb of the Brazilian capital Brasília. He showed his passion for football even as a child. On the dusty streets of his neighbourhood he spent hours chasing the ball – often in bare feet like many Brazilian children. Despite the simple conditions he grew up in, his family always supported his dream of one day becoming a great football player. He made his first steps in club football at small local clubs before moving onto the youth set-up at the club Guará and later he singed for the big club Internacional Porto Alegre. Bayer 04 signed the internationally completely unknown defender from there in January 2000.
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In this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of September. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
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