The farewell for one of the biggest personalities in German football evoked great emotion at the BayArena in Leverkusen: The fans celebrated the Bayer 04 legend with a huge piece of choreography, standing ovations and chants of ‘There’s only one Rudi Völler.’ In addition, 25,000 T-shirts were distributed before the start of the game. All these actions had one message: “Thank you, Rudi!”
Werner Wenning, chairman of the shareholders committee at Bayer 04, plus CEO Fernando Carro presented Völler with a collage of images from over 28 years at the Werkself on the pitch and also praised the work of the 1990 World Cup winner for the Black and Reds. Völler then took to the microphone himself: “Today is the day where I say thank you to everybody who has supported our wonderful club from the bottom of their hearts over the years. As the club anthem says, we have to stand together in coming years with a cross on our chest in good and bad times – for a great atmosphere like today! That’s how I want to see you!”
With the exception of long break when he was the Germany coach (2000 to 2004), Rudi Völler has been part of Bayer 04 since 1994 and over the years developed into the face of the Werkself. Before his move to Leverkusen as a player, the Germany international with 90 caps had already seen a lot and achieved much more: In addition to the World Cup, the now 62-year-old played for AS Roma for five years and he won the UEFA Champions League with Olympique Marseille in 1993.
Towards the end of his career as a player, the Hanau-born striker played for Bayer 04 for two years from 1994 to 1996. The former world-class central striker explained his decision to join the Werkself back then in an interview in the Süddeutsche Zeitung: “It was a gut decision in the end to join Bayer 04 because I saw: At Leverkusen there was Bernd Schuster and Andi Thom plus a few others of the like who could set me up.” That’s what they did. He scored 31 goals in his 75 appearances for the Black and Reds.
Völler remained under the Bayer Cross when he hung up his boots in 1996 and he was introduced to the secrets of the management business by the then boss Reiner Calmund. Before his job with the DFB, he was the sporting director at Bayer 04 for four years and he worked in the same role for 13 years after his time with Germany before taking over the running of the Werkself as sporting managing director alongside Fernando Carro (CEO) in 2018.
Rudi Völler does not need to have any second thoughts about his successor with the Black and Reds: The 62-year-old has passed on the baton to sporting director Simon Rolfes who officially takes over as the sporting managing director on 1 July – and he will certainly have passed on one or two important lessons and anecdotes from his 28 years with Bayer 04 Leverkusen…
The Golden Boy Top 100 traditionally lists Europe’s most promising young players. In the latest update, published to mark the start of the new season, four current Werkself players – alongside loanee Francis Onyeka – feature on the list. This means Bayer 04 have the most players in contention of any Bundesliga club.
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Goalkeeper Rafaela Borggräfe will continue to play for Bayer 04 Leverkusen next season. The loan of the Germany U23 international, who joined from Liverpool in the winter, has been extended by a further year.
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The Bayer 04 delegation, led by Fernando Carro, CEO, concluded their multi-day trip to Brazil with a visit to the community-based organisation Bola Pra Frente in Rio de Janeiro – founded by former Werkself player Jorginho. During the visit, Bayer 04 committed to extending support for the Bola Pra Frente project for a further five years. In addition, Jorginho, a member of the Brazil 1994 World Cup-winning squad, was named Bayer 04’s second official club legend. With the visit to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the club has strengthened the relationships built up over the years in one of Bayer 04’s most important international markets.
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Ten years after retiring as a player, Kristina Sundov is returning to the Bayer 04 Women’s team as assistant coach. The 39-year-old former Croatia international takes over from Remzi Kahraman, who has taken up a new challenge abroad. She has been given a contract to 30 June 2028.
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The training pitches at the BayArena are already buzzing with activity again, even before training officially begins next week. On Monday morning, a small group from the Werkself first-team squad completed a session lasting around an hour. Both new and familiar faces were present.
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