18 May 1988 – that special date has not lost any of its charisma for Bayer 04 fans: The date of the UEFA Cup win. Many older Werkself fans can name the route to the title standing on their heads: Austria Vienna, FC Toulouse, Werder Bremen and Espanol in the two-leg final that was decided on penalties on 18 May 1998.
In 2013, on the 25th anniversary, the UEFA Cup winners came together for a reunion in Leverkusen (pictured above). Now, five years later on the 30th anniversary, a majority of the heroes from back then returned to the scene of their triumph to celebrate with Bayer 04 fans. On Friday 18 May, there will be an evening shared with the supporters at the BayArena – either in the 1904 Lounge in the West Wing of the stadium or in the Schwadbud in the East Stand.
Rüdiger Vollborn, one of the Bayer 04 fan liaison team and a proud cup winner organise the meeting in tandem with Dirk Dreher, the manager of the Veterans team. there has been a great response from the '88 winners: Former players Marcus Feinbier, Florian Hinterberger, Christian Schreier, Falko Götz, Christian Hausmann, Andrzej Buncol, Wolfgang Rolff, Erich Seckler, Knut Reinhardt and Bernd Dreher have all confirmed they will attend, plus assistant coach Gerd Kentschke and the then general manager Michael Meier. It remains to be seen if Pierre De Keyser and Minas Hantzidis will be at the event.
The reunion on 18 May starts at the apt time of 19.04 CET. And the protagonists of 1988 will definitely have lots of stories to tell on the podium. "We'll watch highlights of all the games with the fans and then talk about it. I'm already really excited to hear the lads' memories," said Rüdiger Vollborn. "The whole thing should be it relaxed as was the case two years ago with the 1996 relegation showdown against Kaiserslautern when Markus Münch, Dirk Heinen, Rudi Völler, Peter Hermann and Markus Happe betrayed their secrets in the Schwadbud." Bayer 04 stadium announcer Tobias Ufer will compere the event from the stage.
Tickets for the supporter meeting with the UEFA Cup heroes are available for five euros, including a free drink. They are available every day from the Fan House at Breidenbachstraße 46 and also from the Stadioneck and the Fan Container at the final Bayer 04 home game of the season.
The evening on 18 May is not the only events this year where winners from the past meet up again. "In September or October we have another big meeting planned where both the 1988 UEFA Cup winners and the DFB Cup winners of 1993 will be in attendance. Tita and Bum-kun Cha, who could not be here this time, will be there," said Rüdiger Vollborn. A supporters meeting is also planned for the 25th anniversary of winning the DFB Cup on 12 June. Bayer 04 will definitely not run out of reasons to celebrate this year.
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career working as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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