News in brief: Rudi Völler a guest on ‘Riverboat’

Friday night sees East Germany's most successful talk show celebrate a birthday – and Leverkusen sporting managing director Rudi Völler is one of the large number of special guests on ‘Riverboat’. For the 30th anniversary broadcast, the 61-year-old spoke to comedian Matze Knoop in a comprehensive interview about a wide range of subjects including his first matches as a football player in the German Democratic Republic.

Riverboat – the anniversary talk-show is broadcast tonight at 22.00 CET on MDR TV.

#41Forever

The Dallas Mavericks have this week honoured Dirk Nowitzki, one of the best basketball players of all time, and presented the German with a number 41 shirt. The Würzburg-born player has been at the NBA club for 21 years and that number will not be used again.

We also acknowledge Nowitzki's impressive career and think back to 2019 and his visit to the BayArena. The 2.13 metre tall giant was in Leverkusen for the charity football match 'Champions for Charity. And that was not the first time. Dirk Nowitzki was often looked after by Jens Joppich who worked for Bayer 04 as an osteopath.

happy birthday, Scholle!

The former Werkself player Heiko Scholz today celebrates his 56th birthday – Bayer 04 wish him many happy returns. He joined Bayer 04 from Dynamo Dresden in the summer of 1992 and the midfielder went on to play 76 Bundesliga matches (five goals, five assists) in Black and Red. His biggest success was winning the DFB Cup in 1993. Scholz moved on to Werder Bremen two years later.

Nach seinem Karriere-Ende 2000 wechselte der gebürtige Görlitzer auf die Trainerbank und landete über den MSV Duisburg, Viktoria Köln und andere Klubs bei Dynamo Dresden. An der Elbe ist Scholz seit Dezember 2019 als Co-Trainer – derzeit von Alexander Schmidt – tätig.