Bayern Leverkusen
Based on a letter from
27th November 1903 written by Wilhelm Hauschild
to the Head office of Friedrich Bayer &
Co paint factory, which also had 170 signatures
from employees, asking for some support for
the establishment of a sports club. The support
was granted. And on 1st July 1904 the foundations
of a football squad were formed.
When the club formed in
June 1928 it included football, handball, fistball,
boxing and light-athletics. And was known as
Bayern 04 Sporting Club.
In May 1936 to show the loyalty to the firm
the players’ wore the firms’ logo,
of the Bayern cross for he first time in a qualifying
game for the German Second Division.
Bayern 04 gained promotion
to the fourth division west. And in the 1962
season the again were promoted to the fourth
division west.
Success came for the club
when they were the Regional champions, west
in 1968. The club also had a good year in 1975
when they were promoted into the Second Division
and stayed there for four season until 12th
May 1979 when they secured the place in the
German first division three days before the
end of the season with a 3-3 draw against Bayern
05 Uerdingen.
In the 1980s saw the club
merge the Gym and Sports Club 1904 (TuS04) with
the Sporting Club Bayern 04 thus forming the
TVS Bayern 04 Leverkusen e. V. Having done this
the club had a good run of form as they won
the UEFA Cup Champions of 1987-88 with a penalty
shoot out Even though they lost the home match
against Espanol Barcelona in the first round
play-off 0-3 but hen won away at Barcelona 3-0.
This run of good form continued into the 1990s
when on the 12th June 1993 the club become the
holders of the German Bundesliga Cup after beating
Hertha BSC (A) 1-0 in the away play-off. This
victory gave them the German Bundesliga Cup
and also qualified them for the European Cup
Winner’s Cup. And in 1994 on 30th January
the Hall Masters winner in Dortmund. Four years
after they won the German Bundesliga the club
became runners-up and they qualify for they
Champions League on 31st May 1997.
In the 1997-98 season
in Bayern 04’s first time in the Champions
League the club makes it through the group stages
by beating Sporting Lisbon, AS Monaco and Lierse
SK. But Real Madrid beat them in the quarter-finals.
In the 1998-99 season Bayer 04 reach 2nd position
in the German Bundesliga and again qualifying
them for the European Champions League.
But they didn’t make it through the group
stages to the final. But in all five times they
have been in the Champions League they have
only got to the final once, which was in the
2001-2002 season. Otherwise they have gone out
in the group stages or the quarter final.
Bayern 04 Leverkusen plays
at the BayArena and has the ground capacity
of 22,500.
The star players at Bayern
04 Leverkusen are Hans-Jorg Butt, Ulf Kirsten,
Yildiray Basturk, Dimitar Berbatov, Lucio, Thomas
Brdaric, Bernd Schneider, Zoltan Sebescen, Oliver
Neuville, Carsten Ramelow, and Diego Placente.
Bayern 04 Leverkusen hopes
to finish within the top three and to win some
of the German titles and to qualify for the
UEFA.
