After five years in the Bundesliga with Fortuna Düsseldorf, and in spite of lucrative offers – including from Sevilla -, Dieter Herzog opted to drop down to the second division and join Bayer 04 in 1976. The crucial reason: Leverkusen gave the 1974 World Cup winner the prospect of working with the club after his playing career.
In his third season with the Black and Reds, the key player and his teammates succeeded in achieving promotion to the top flight. And, in the first Bundesliga campaign in the club’s history, the 33-year-old attacker was a regular starter for Bayer 04 in 1979/80. Herzog ended his playing career after the club stayed up and, in 1983, he joined the scouting department and remained in that role until 2012. Herzog celebrated his 74th birthday on Wednesday. Bayer 04 wishes Dieter: Many happy returns!
Paulinho also had his big day on 15 July as he was 20 years old on Wednesday. The Brazilian forward is currently recovering from injury in rehab so is unable to enjoy his holiday to the maximum. He suffered a torn cruciate in training in the week before the DFB Cup final. Bayer 04 wish him a speedy recovery and many happy returns.
Rambo Özcan is relaxing on Lake Constance, Nadiem Amiri and Karim Bellarabi are spending their time off in Greece: The crowded fixture list at the end of the season after the the lockdown and the restart in the middle of May meant a heavy workload for the Werkself players. Accordingly, Moussa Diaby and Co. are currently enjoying a well-deserved two-week holiday before returning to training on 23 July ahead of the rest of the season. The first, and hopefully not final, step is the Europa League Round of 16 second leg meeting with Glasgow Rangers on Thursday, 6 August with an 18.55 CET kick off. Bayer04.de presents a couple of holiday insights:
This story is more than unusual: Carsten ‘Calle’ Ramelow’s transfer to Bayer 04 was, in part, due to a member of his family. “Reiner Calmund (the Bayer 04 general manager at the time, ed.) was frequently in Berlin. He was in the hotel where my mother-in-law worked. She worked on serving breakfast and Calli was having his breakfast there,” reported the former player in an interview with Spox and Goal.
Ramelow added: “Of course, he was there for a long time and he had an extensive breakfast. My mother-in-law put a newspaper article about me on his table and said: ‘He’d be one for Leverkusen.’” The Berliner signed for Leverkusen in January 1996 and went on to play for Germany during his twelve years at Bayer 04 – so his mother-in-law certainly appears to have played a not insignificant role in that.
The sports journal kicker has reported on football for several generations. The first edition of the newspaper, founded by Walther Bensemann, appeared on 14 July 1920. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, the founder had to leave kicker due to his Jewish origins and he died eighteen months later in exile in Switzerland. Eleven years after Bensemann’s death, the journal was closed down by the government and the first post-war edition of kicker only appeared in 1951.
Since then, the newspaper has primarily reported on football – on a national and international level – as well as on other sports such as Formula 1 and eSports. In the print editions, which appear twice a week, the kicker reports on the Werkself as well as on their own app. The journal celebrated its 100th anniversary on Tuesday. Many congratulations from Bayer 04!
Bayer 04 has come up up something special for Werkself fans. Via the club’s Instagram account, you can complete an interactive test to see which Bayer 04 star you are. Whether it’s a current or former Werkself player? Try it out! Click HERE and follow the story (only available in German via a mobile).
Bayer 04 host Augsburg at the BayArena this Saturday for Matchday 31 of the 2024/25 Bundesliga season. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game against the 10th-placed Bavarians, including the ‘Finally Red’ fan campaign.
Show moreThe first of the Werkself’s remaining 04 fixtures of this season comes on Saturday at home to Augsburg (kick-off: 3.30pm CEST). Ahead of the Matchday 31 encounter, head coach Xabi Alonso reflected on previous weeks, spoke about goals for the remainder of the campaign and also Jonathan Tah.
Show moreAugsburg have enjoyed an excellent run of form this year and come to the BayArena on Saturday (kick-off: 3.30pm CEST) full of confidence as they take on the Werkself. Jess Thorup’s team boast one of the meanest defences in the Bundesliga and harbour real hope of securing European qualification this season. Here’s all you need to know about our next opponents.
Show moreBayer 04 Women won 3-1 away at Turbine Potsdam on Friday night to maintain their chances of finishing in the top three and qualifying for the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Delice Boboy, Cornelia Kramer and Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir struck for the Werkself at the Google Pixel Bundesliga’s bottom club, whose relegation was confirmed with the result. Leverkusen’s 12th win of the campaign took them up to 40 points.
Show moreBayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without defender Nordi Mukiele and the Argentinian striker Alejo Sarco for the time being. Both players suffered muscle injuries in yesterday's Werkself training session.
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