U40s champions of Middle Rhine

First, district champions and now title winners on the Middle Rhine – the Bayer 04 Veterans U40 team compete in the Western Germany Championships on 2 September at the Duisburg-Wedau Sports Academy as they go in search of a place at the German U40 championships in Berlin next year. "We had an extremely small squad and, at the end of the day, the necessary fortune to win the tournament. We have to be that honest," said Bayer 04 manager Dirk Dreher as the Werkself Oldies held the winners’ shield high in the air in Hennef after a hard shift.

The Bayer 04 U40 team qualified for the finals of the Middle Rhine championship in Hennef by winning the district championship in Portz-Urbach at the end of June. In unusually high temperatures, the team coached by Gerd Kentschke and his assistant Christian Hausmann had to work very hard to overcome the competition in the end. "Some others were dead on our knees in the end," said Dirk Dreher. The tournament was played on small pitches with five outfield players plus a goalkeeper with two 14-minute halves and Bayer 04 fielded a very restricted squad of just eight outfield players and two keepers.

The art of improvisation

That meant that shop-stopper Wolfgang Jedwabny played outfield before being between the posts in the final after the other goalkeeper Daniel Galic injured a hand. Given the injury he played as an outfield player in the final. "Nobody can complain about our qualities in terms of improvisation," said Dreher with a smile. In the group matches, the U40s beat SSG Bergisch Gladbach (3-1 with a brace from Thorsten Judt and one from Marcus Feinbier), SW Stotzheim (2-0 with a double from Feinbier), drew 0-0 against BC Oberbruch before winning against titleholders Eintracht Verlauternheide with Feinbier scoring the only goal of the game.

Bayer 04 came out on top in the two final deciders with the necessary luck in penalty shoot-outs. The semi-final ended 1-1 against BE Emken with Feinbier on the scoresheet once again. Leverkusen won 2-0 from the spot because Judt and Franck Germann scored and Galic saved twice. The final against hosts Hennef ended all square at 0-0 with the winners sealing victory 8-7. Judt and Germann both scored three and Galic netted twice from the spot and Jedwabny saved twice. The exhausted Bayer 04 Veterans celebrated in style and now are looking to win the 'Western Germany’ finals in Duisburg to qualify for the U40 2018 German championships in Berlin – albeit then with a somewhat bigger squad.

Tournament victory in Neukirchen

The Bayer 04 U50 team missed out on qualifying for the 'Western Germany’ finals. In the Middle Rhine championship, the team decimated by injuries and holidays produced an impressive group stage with four wins and no goals conceded but they finished fourth after losing 4-2 in the semi-final against FC Hennef. After the tournament in Bergisch Neukirchen for the Jürgen Winkelmann Cup Bayer 04 lifted the cup after a 1-0 victory in the final against the Fortuna Düsseldorf Veterans. The winning goal was scored by Ioannis Masmanidis.

The victorious Bayer 04 U40 team in Hennef, Players: Daniel Galic, Wolfgang Jedwabny, Carsten Baumann, Roman Klossek, Michael Wagner, Thorsten Judt, Guido Berghoff, Marcus Feinbier, Peter Gemein, Frank Germann; Staff: Manager Dirk Dreher, coaches Gerd Kentschke and Christian Hausmann, support staff Emil Szymura and Thomas Kampa, physiotherapist Yvonne Fritzsche