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Bayer Leverkusen

Alex Sisto

Founded: 1904 City: Leverkusen Colours: Red and black striped shirts, white shorts Ground: Ulrich Haberland Stadium Honours: DFB-Pokal winners: 1993 UEFA-Cupwinners: 1988

https://p.dw.com/p/6AtP
Bayer Leverkusen's 2004/05 squadImage: dpa

Most famous Leverkusen players:
Tita, Falco Götz, Olaf Thom, Ulf Kirsten, Bernd Schuster, Rudi Völler, Michael Ballack, Carsten Ramelow, Bernd Schneider, Dimitar Berbatov

Leverkusen lies near the river Rhine, a few kilometres north of the city of Cologne. FC Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen are fierce rivals. Cologne may be the club with the greater tradition, but this season they find themselves in the second division again whilst Bayer Leverkusen are once again playing Champions League football.

Rainer Calmund auf dem Spielfeld
Rainer Calmund built the Leverkusen squads of late 90s and beyondImage: AP

Amazingly, in spite of all the good football the club have played over the seasons they have never won the Bundesliga Championship, but finished second on four occasions. The club and its supporters will never forget the 2002 season when the club finished second in the Bundesliga, reached the Champions League final, where they lost to Real Madrid and then were beaten in the the German Cup final by Schalke. The players were so demoralized that they were almost relegated the following season.

The history of TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen began over 100 years ago. Wilhelm Hauschild, a worker with the Friedrich Bayer & Co paint factory founded the club on the 1st of July 1904. From 1936 to 1998 Bayer players wore jerseys with their firm's logo, the Bayer cross.

Rainer Calmund is the key figure many immediately associate with modern day Bayer Leverkusen. Giant-sized "Cali" as he is affectionately known made the club into one of the most respected names in Europe. Although Calmund has now stepped down and has since become a television personality, he remains inextricably linked to the club's fortunes. It was not until 1979 that the club finally reached the Bundesliga.

European success

Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Real Madrid
Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane evades the Bayer Leverkusen defence during the UEFA Champions League Final on May 15th 2002, which Madrid wonImage: AP

Their greatest victory came in 1988 when the club won the UEFA Cup. After losing the first leg of the final 0:3 against Español Bayer pulled off a remarkable come-back, beating the Spaniards 3-0 in the return to force extra time and to win the penalty shoot-out 3:2 becoming the 1987/88 UEFA Cup Champions. Leverkusen`s other success came in 1993 when they won the German Cup.

Leverkusen have not had it easy in the past years. When the club appointed to Rudi Völler as their coach the German football association suddenly decided they wanted Völler themselves a national coach . Völler had to oblige. Leverkusen then appointed star trainer Christoph Daum as their coach. Daum almost won them the title but then had to give up his job and leave Germany after testing positive for cocaine. A brutal media campaign followed.

Current Squad:
Adler, Rene (22) Callsen-Bracker, Jan-Ingwer (29) Babic, Marko (19) Berbatov, Dimitar (9) Starke, Tom (20) Júnior, Roque (3) Castro, Gonzalo (27) Bierofka, Daniel (13) Nowotny, Jens (5) Dum, Sascha (26) Donovan, Landon (23) Silveira dos Santos, Juan (4) Freier, Paul (10) Jones, Jermaine (8) Fritz, Clemens (17) Ponte, Róbson (7) Krzynowek, Jacek (16) Sena de Souza, Françoaldo (11) Öztürk, Sezer (15) Voronin, Andrej (12) Placente, Diego (35) Ramelow, Carsten (28) Sahin, Kenan (18) Schneider, Bernd (25)

Coach: Klaus Augenthaler