"Rudi recounts…"
...the tales of yesteryear. Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, is Bayer 04’s record appearance holder in the Bundesliga with 401 games, and is the only Leverkusen 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 as he worked 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 personalised Black and Red encyclopaedia takes Werkself fans on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month with our series ‘Rudi recounts…’.
Topics
Birthday boy of the month: Claus-Dieter ‘Pele’ Wollitz turns 60
Claus-Dieter, known as ‘Pele’, Wollitz was born in Brakel on 19 July 1965 in Brakel. He earned the nickname of the Brazilian global super star at the age of six because he was able to the juggle the ball for a long time as a child. What was originally meant as a stunt would follow him all his life. Every football fan associates the name Wollwitz with his nickname: Pele.
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Legends: Zé Roberto, the man with the magic touch
José Roberto da Silva Junior, Zé Roberto for short, was born in the Brazilian city of São Paulo on 6 July 1974. He started playing football at the Pequeninos de Joquey soccer school at the age of seven. Via the club Palestra Sao Bernardo, the left footer moved on to the professional club Portuguesa de Desportos where he made his debut in 1994.
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Match of the month: 25 years ago – German U19 champions 2000
25 years ago, the Bayer 04 U19 team under their two coaches Thomas Hörster and Dirk Dreher were Regional League West champions and thereby participants in the finals of the German championship.
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History: 50 years ago – Start of training 1975
After promotion to Bundesliga 2, the football boss Hermann Bacall had his hands full putting together a powerful team. For the first training session at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium on 14 July 1975 there were nine new signings including five players who became regular starters in the team that won promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979.
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From the archives: 100 years ago – Wiesdorfer Sportwoche
After the success of the previous year, the gymnastics and sports club Leverkusen hold the ‘Wiesdorfer Sportwoche’ week of sports for a second time (the city of Leverkusen is only founded in 1930). The week of sport started on Sunday, 12 July 1925. In the years before World War I there were municipal gymnastics and games festivals. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the club in 1924 the board and many helping hands started the week of sports. An internal municipal games festival developed into a national event which made a name for itself after a year particularly due to the relay element.
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