The brothers Karl and Richard van Frank played several games for the first team in the 1930/31 season – Karl as a defender, Richard as a left winger. The Sportvereinigung Leverkusen 04, as Bayer 04 was called back then, were promoted to the top district league at the end of that season, dominated it in the following years and were promoted to the Lower Rhine district league in 1936 as Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The names of the two brothers again and again appear in the Werkself team lists as Frank I (Karl) and Frank II (Richard). Their father Samuel van Frank owns the two cinemas in Leverkusen, ‘Tonbild’ and ‘Nationaltheater. When he has to hand over the 'Tonbild' at the end of 1933 the new owner interestingly is the brother of the National Socialist MP Josef Wipperfürth.
In the summer of 1935, Samuel van Frank wants to show one of the first Nazi propaganda films ‘Der junge und der alte König’ (The Young and the Old King) in his ‘Nationaltheater’ but the local NSDAP party bosses incite a storm of indignation that culminates in further repressive measures. And his sons Karl and Richard again and again are missing from the Werkself line-ups. The last match reports in October and November 1936 often report a "bad" left winger who should be replaced but Richard is never mentioned by name again. It could be that Richard van Frank did not play again but the journalistic criticism would fit with the times back then.
The family van Frank give up on 26 November 1936. They move to Holland and are hidden by a Dutch family and thereby avoid deportation to a concentration camp. After the end of the war, the brothers follow the traditional career of their father and open two cinemas in Haarlem (Richard) and Beverwijk (Karl).
Zoltan Sebescen was born on 1 October 1975 in Ehingen and he started playing football as a child. His talent stood out early on and he was accepted into the youth section at Stuttgarter Kickers in 1982. There he progressed through all the youth teams and continued to develop. His breakthrough in the men's game came in the mid-1990s, when he moved up to the Kickers first team squad. With his speed, dynamism and attacking drive, he soon made a name for himself beyond the region. He and his team were promoted from the Regional League South to Bundesliga 2 in 1996 and stayed in the league with Stuttgart for three years.
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Jens Nowotny was born on 11 January 1974 in Malsch, Baden-Württemberg. As a youngster, he played for SV Spielberg and Germania Friedrichstal and later joined the youth section at Karlsruher SC. As a 15-year-old, he became an integral part of the DFB national youth set-up and played for all of the Germany junior teams. One highlight was an U15 international against England at Wembley.
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It is Tuesday, 20 October 2015 - a Champions League night at the BayArena. The visitors: AS Roma. What awaits the spectators is a memorable football match full of drama, speed and emotion. The Werkself get off to a flying start and literally overrun the slightly favoured Italians in the early stages. The scoreline was 2-0 after just twenty minutes - both goals were scored by Mexico international Chicharito. Bayer 04 put the visitors under constant pressure with their aggressive pressing and bold attacking play and even had a chance to make it 3-0. Then the AS Roma captain Daniele De Rossi brought his team back into the game with a brace making it 2-2 at half-time.
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In the video you can see impressive and important goals in Bayer 04 history from the month of October. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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On 23 October 1960, a highly anticipated local derby took place in the DFB Pokal, which the team had to qualify for via the regional association cup competitions at the time: SV Schlebusch hosted the Werkself from Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Around 2,000 spectators flocked to the "Am Bühl" stadium to watch the game kicking off at 3 pm.
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