With all the focus on the forthcoming match there was still the need for the players to be relaxed. A few hours before kick-off, the players Emil ‘Bubi’ Becks, Walter Nussbaum and Karl-Heinz Spikofski under the eyes of team manager, club landlord and groundsman Paul Harig had time for a round of cards.
When the match kicked off at 15.00 the Stadtpark was a sell-out with a crowd of 20,000. The Essen goalkeeper Budzinski was injured after 10 minutes and is replaced up to half-time by the centre-half Wever but he was unable to stop Dr Franz Wichelhaus making it 1-0 on 37 minutes. The one-goal lead for Bayer 04 at half-time thoroughly deserved but Budzinski returned between the sticks after the break and Essen, back up to full strength, continue to threaten the Leverkusen goal above all through the outstanding right-winger Helmut Rahn. Termath scored a deserved equaliser on 65 minutes.
The Bayer 04 line-up 70 years ago:
Mutz – Habets, Frömmel, Nußbaum, Papenhoff, Dr. Wichelhaus, Tiede, Flohr, Becks, Spikofski, Wiorek
HERE you can see the first moving pictures of a Bayer 04 team. I thank NK12 for their permission to link this video.
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.
Show moreSince 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.
Show moreIn this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of May. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
Show moreThere were high summer temperatures in Leverkusen on 25 May 1985. Matchday 32 brings FC Köln to the Ulrich Haberland Stadium with only 13,000 spectators at the derby. That is primarily due to the Werkself with Bayer 04 rarely impressing in that season and they are eleventh in the table before the game just three points ahead of sixteenth, the play-off spot. But with the two points for a win rule back then – two points were awarded for a win – and with the significantly better goal difference, the Werkself need every point to get out of trouble.
Show moreIt was all or nothing on the final matchday in the Verbandsliga in the 1974/75 season. Only now would it be decided who were champions and thereby participate in the promotion games to the Bundesliga 2 North. The earlier rivals Viktoria Köln, SC Jülich 10 and Bonner SC have fallen by the wayside.
Show more