Founded in 1904 by the chemical company Bayer, Leverkusen won this Sunday (14) the first German championship title in its history, to finally free itself from the uncomfortable nickname ‘Vizekusen’, given to the club after five runners-up finishes, including the two titles. that painfully escaped him in 2000 and 2002.
The Bayer club
The story of Bayer 04 Leverkusen begins with a letter written in February 1903 by two Bayer employees, Wilhelm Hauschild and August Kuhlmann, and signed by 170 employees. They ask for the creation of a sports club linked to the group founded in 1863 by Friedrich Bayer.
After receiving the green light from the chemical company’s board of directors, the multi-sports club TuS 04 – the name that would become Bayer 04 Leverkusen – was born on July 1, 1904, and the football section played its first matches three years later.
The links between the club and the company remain strong. Currently, Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fussball GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of Bayer AG. The club’s logo features the Bayer cross, the team is nicknamed ‘Werkself’, the ‘Factory Eleven’, as until the 1970s most of the players on the squad were linked to the factory.
Leverkusen’s current stadium, opened in August 1958, was initially called Ulrich-Haberland Stadion, in honor of the then Bayer coach, before being renamed BayArena in 1998.
Ballack, emblematic player
Before moving to Bayern Munich in 2002 and becoming captain of the German national team in 2004, Michael Ballack spent time at Bayer Leverkusen, where he arrived in 1999 from Kaiserslautern, with whom he became champion in 1998.
Developed at Chemnitz (formerly Karl-Marx-Stadt) in the 1980s-1990s, Ballack is the most emblematic player to have played for Leverkusen. Other great German names such as Ulf Kirsten, Christian Worms and Rudi Völler also played for this club on the outskirts of Cologne.
Current German national team players Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) and Bernd Leno (Fulham) also played for Bayer Leverkusen, where Florian Wirtz shines this year, in a club with a reputation for being a springboard for others.
Brazilians Jorginho (world champion in 1994), Lúcio (world champion in 2002) and Zé Roberto began their European careers at Leverkusen.
In the opposite direction, Rudi Völler transferred to Bayer Leverkusen after having played for Roma and Olympique Marseille, but it was at this club that he began his coaching career, becoming sporting director on July 1, 1996, shortly after retire as a player.
The ‘Vizekusen’ of the 2000s
Leverkusen is not one of the 16 clubs that founded the Bundesliga in 1963. After a short spell in the third division, the club finally joined the elite in 1979, never to be relegated again. Between 1996 and 2002 it established itself in the ‘Top 4’, finishing in second position in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002.
The runner-up in 2000 was especially painful. In the last round, Bayer Leverkusen needed just one point from their visit to modest Unterhaching, on the southern outskirts of Munich, who had been promoted to the first division. Ballack scored an own goal, Leverkusen lost 2-0 and Bayern Munich won the title by beating Werder Bremen away from home. Leverkusen came to be known as ‘Vizekusen’ or ‘Neverkusen’ (with the word ‘never’ meaning ‘never’ in English).
In 2002, Leverkusen started the month of May still competing in three competitions. In the Bundesliga, the team squandered a five-point lead with three rounds remaining and Dortmund became champions.
A week later, Leverkusen lost the German Cup final and, four days later, the ‘Werkself’ lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid, with a legendary volley from Zinedine Zidane. The ‘Vizekuzen’ syndrome struck again, but many years later Xabi Alonso’s team seems to have found the antidote.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
