Club name

The full name is

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH - and emerged from the gymnastics and sports club Bayer 04 Leverkusen e.V.

Founding year

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH was founded on April 1, 1999, the date on which the licensed players division of Bayer 04 Leverkusen e.V., a gymnastics and sports club founded in 1904, was spun off. In February 1903, 170 Bayer employees signed a letter to the management asking them to set up their own club. The then management agreed and so the actual club was founded on July 1, 1904.

Club logo

Club colours

The club colors of Bayer Leverkusen are red-white-black.

Official Website

The official homepage of Bayer 04 Leverkusen is as follows

bayer04.de

Venue

Until the First World War there was no fixed venue for the club's footballers, so they often had to vagabond. In 1914 they were given a permanent place in the west of colony II on the Dhünn square. Later the kickers moved to the stadium at the Stadtpark. In 1958 they moved into the newly built Ulrich-Haberland Stadium, which at that time had a capacity of 20,000 spectators. Later the stadium was extended to 30,000 spectators. Today the stadium is called BayArena and is the home ground of the Bayer players.

Nickname

Nicknames are Bayer 04 or Bayer Leverkusen or Werkself. After one became "only" second in some competitions, the ironic name "Vizekusen" is often used.

Club members

Since the license player department was outsourced as its own GmbH it has also no members like a registered association (e.V.). The main club Turn- und Sportverein Bayer 04 Leverkusen e.V. has about 10,000 members in 11 divisions.

Successes

The club's two greatest successes are winning the 1988 UEFA Cup and the 1993 DFB Cup. The club was very close to becoming German Champion and played many national and international finals. One could mention the Champions League Final 2002 against Real Madrid, where the Werkself was the better team for a long time.

Failures

The biggest failure was the defeat at the CL Final 2002, where they were on a par with a strong Real Madrid for a long time. After the lost final, Michael Ballack and Ze Roberto, two important and central players, migrated to FC Bayern in the direction of Munich. The 2002/2003 season was then a difficult season in the Bayer almost in the 2nd Bundesliga off. It was only at the last minute that the coach Klaus Augenthaler, who had just been engaged, was able to prevent the relegation.

Major former players and club legends as well as record players

Rüdiger Vollborn (1983-1999)

Jens Nowotny (1996-2006)

Jorginho (1989-1992)

Michael Ballack (19992-2002 und 2010-2012)

Ze Roberto (1998-2002)

Bernd Schneider (1999-2009)

Ulf Kirsten (1990-2003)

Rudi Völler (1994-1996)

Stefan Kießling (2006-2018)

Simon Rolfes (2005-2015)

Fans and Fanclubs

Bayer 04 Leverkusen has 355 fan clubs in which about 25,000 fans are organized.

Fan rivalries

The biggest fan rivalry is undoubtedly to the neighbour from Cologne, the 1st FC Cologne. This rivalry is about the supremacy on the Rhine, which both clubs claim for themselves. Further rivalries exist to the KFC Uerdingen 05, because of the former common sponsor of the Bayer AG and to the Fortuna from Düsseldorf which has probably geographical reasons.

Fan friendships

A fan friendship exists with the fans of Kickers Offenbach. This friendship was formed in 1980 when the Offenbach fans helped the Leverkusen fans when there was trouble with the fans of Eintracht Frankfurt.

General information

Since Bayer 04 Leverkusen still has the status of a company-owned club and Bayer AG is the 100% owner of Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, which also grants an annual subsidy of 25 million euros, other clubs and their fans have repeatedly criticized Bayer 04 Leverkusen for this advantage. However, 25 million is not much money in professional football today and Bayer therefore needs additional income from other sponsors and from the marketing of the DFL's television funds. In addition, more and more other companies are entering the football business and buying entire share packages from the clubs. Examples include Deutsche Telekom, Audi, Allianz Versicherung and others.

Bye

Tomtheone