He started at Bayer 04 in 1976 as the youth managing director and shortly after that became the manager and director of the whole club of SV Bayer 04 that covered the sports of football, boxing, fist ball, handball and athletics. And in 1979, the year of promotion to the Bundesliga, he took over the post of head and managing director of the football department at the request of the then president Dr. Jürgen Schwericke. On this Saturday, Heintz Heitmann celebrates his 80th birthday.
Heintz Heitmann was the general manager of Bayer 04 the first five years in the Bundesliga. He was pretty much responsible for everything at the club: finance and budgeting, contract and transfer negotiations, licensing procedures, stadium administration, perimeter advertising, training camps and much more. The budget for the season in the first two years in the Bundesliga was 6.5 million Deutschmarks. "That covered all costs including the salaries of the players, coaches and staff, travel costs as well as looking after visitors and the press."
Our team spirit held together over the decades and they all remained Bayer lads," said Heitmann. He was in charge of the Veterans until 2006 – before handing over to Michael Kentschke. Bayer 04 send birthday greetings and wish the former general manager all the best and, above all, good health.
Today's top match at Leipzig will be refereed by FIFA official Harm Osmers from Hannover. His assistants are Robert Kempter from Stockach and Thomas Gorniak from Bremen. The fourth official is Lasse Kozlowski from Berlin. Günter Perl from Pullach is the VAR official. To date, Osmers has refereed 11 Werkself games, all in the Bundesliga – producing five wins, four draws, two defeats, 23 yellow cards and two red cards for Bayer 04. This season he was in charge of the home games against RB Leipzig (1-1) and Borussia Mönchengladbach (4-3).
He is an honorary captain and possibly the most technically gifted player ever to run out for the Werkself: Bernd 'Schnix' Schneider. The midfielder from Jena worked his magic on the right side of the Leverkusen midfield from 1999 to 2009 in 366 appearances. Now he has been asked by the Bild Zeitung about how the top game on matchday 19 will turn out. The answer from the now 47-year-old: "2-2 – both teams are strong in attack so there will be lots of goals. Because the last three meetings have ended in draws, the points will also be shared this time."
The Black and Reds kick off the new Bundesliga campaign today, Saturday 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST), away to newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg – and the Werkself will come up against a familiar face who is currently causing a stir at ‘Elv’. For an affordable and easy journey to the Saarland, the 1,600 travelling fans can still use the WERKSELFgo car-share platform. Today’s matchday news..
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The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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The Bundesliga is back. On Saturday 29 August (kick-off: 15:30 CEST), the Werkself are away to SV 07 Elversberg on matchday 1 of the new season. Ahead of the clash at the URSAPHARM Arena on Kaiserlinde, head coach Carles Martínez spoke, amongst other things, about the importance of a successful start and the motivation of the league newcomers from the Saarland.
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On Friday afternoon, it will be decided which eight of the 36 participating teams Bayer 04 will face in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League in 2026/27. At the draw in Monaco (live on UEFA.com), the Werkself will be drawn against two teams from each of the four pots, allocated according to the UEFA club coefficient. A match against an opponent from the same country is ruled out, as is facing more than two clubs from the same national association. Here’s a look at the pots and potential opponents.
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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