"The work of Heinz Heitmann made an important contribution to Bayer 04 being an established and successful member of the Bundesliga family. We are grateful for his decades of commitment and his close association with the club," said Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO.
Heitmann started working in Leverkusen in 1976 as the youth director and manager at Bayer 04. Shortly after that, he became the managing director of the overall club SV Bayer 04 with its football, boxing, fist ball, and ball and athletics sections. And in 1979, the year of promotion to the Bundesliga, Heitmann took over the post of head and director of the football section at the request of the then president Dr. Jürgen Schwericke.
In Bayer 04's first five years in the Bundesliga, Heinz Heitmann was the general manager responsible for almost everything at the club: Finance and budget planning, contract and transfer negotiations, licensing, stadium administration, pitchside advertising, training camps and much more besides. A man for all seasons who played a big part in the increasing professionalisation of the club structures in the first years in the Bundesliga.
When he ended his time as general manager in 1984, Heitmann carried on working in the Bayer works. Of course, he remained attached to football and Bayer 04. In 1992, he took over the voluntary role of managing the club's Veterans team, which was mainly made up from the promotion side of 1979. "Our work together lasted through the decades and they all remained Bayer lads," Heitmann once said. He led the Veterans team up to 2006 before handing over the reins to Michael Kentschke.
A regular visited to the stands at the BayArena and holder of an honorary season card, Heinz Heitmann watched Werkself home games until recently. He passed away in the night from Wednesday to Thursday at the age of 82.
The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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