Werkself supporters had the chance to vote. Under bundesliga-allstars.bayer04.de, participants had to put together an 18-man squad plus coach from 294 players and 25 coaches. Most votes went to Ulf Kirsten. 90.89 % of participants included 'Der Schwatte' in their squads. He was followed by Bernd 'Schnix' Schneider (90.02 %) and Stefan 'Kies' Kießling (82.39%). They led the starting eleven with the most votes: Rüdiger Vollborn – Lars Bender, Jens Nowotny, Lucio, Zé Roberto – Carsten Ramelow, Simon Rolfes – Bernd Schneider, Michael Ballack – Ulf Kirsten, Stefan Kießling.
The supporters only had one vote for the coaches. Christoph Daum (33.92%) led the way ahead of Jupp Heynckes (23.12%) and Klaus Toppmöller (12.37%). The fact that different fan generations took part in the vote is demonstrated by the following names. Jürgen Gelsdorf and Thomas Hörster are the only two promotion heroes of 1979 and the current Werkself squad has four players: Lars Bender, Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz and Jonathan Tah.
The last six players will definitely be there when Bayer 04 entertain Schalke 04 in the last home game of the season on Saturday, 11 May 2019. The last four will hopefully be on the pitch and the two promotion heroes in the stands. The management of Bayer 04 Leverkusen have invited the 'Bundesliga All Stars' voted for by the fans online to the match. They will watch the game from the stands and then review "40 years of the Bundesliga under the Bayer Cross'.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen finally reached the top flight on 13 May 1979. A 3-3 draw against Bayer 05 Uerdingen at the Ullrich Harberland Stadium saw the team coached by Willibert Kramer secure promotion to the top-flight in Germany. The adventure of the Bundesliga started on 11 August 1979 with an away game at Bayern Munich. Bayer 04 have remained in the top division since that day – in addition to the Werkself, only Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund share that record.
Goalkeepers: René Adler, Hans-Jörg Butt, Bernd Leno, Rüdiger Vollborn
Defence: Daniel Carvajal, Manuel Friedrich, Jürgen Gelsdorf, Thomas Hörster, Sami Hyypiä, Jorginho, Juan, Lucio, Jens Nowotny, Diego Placente, Jonathan Tah, Christian Wörns
Midfield: Michael Ballack, Lars Bender, Gonzalo Castro, Emerson, Kai Havertz, Toni Kroos, Hans-Peter Lehnhoff, Carsten Ramelow, Renato Augusto, Simon Rolfes, Bernd Schneider, Bernd Schuster, Arturo Vidal, Zé Roberto
Attack: Dimitar Berbatov, Julian Brandt, Bum-kun Cha, Stefan Kießling, Ulf Kirsten, Oliver Neuville, Paulo Sergio, Andreas Thom, Rudi Völler, Herbert Waas
Coaches: Christoph Daum, Peter Hermann, Jupp Heynckes, Erich Ribbeck, Klaus Toppmöller
Bayer 04 Leverkusen and the Hamburg tech start-up GIPEDO are revolutionising communication between clubs and their partners: Via a new partner portal, the GIPEDO workspace, animation advertising can in future be independently administrated by partners.
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On Saturday 22 March, lights at the BayArena will be switched off from 20:30 to 21:.30 CET. As in previous years, Bayer 04 are again joining in with the climate protection campaign ‘Earth Hour’.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen will have to manage without defender Shen Menglu for several months. The China international suffered a torn cruciate injury in last Sunday’s 6-0 home win against Werder Bremen.
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Central defender Emilie Bragstad is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen with immediate effect to join top-flight Swedish club Hammarby IF. The 23-year-old had a contract with the Werkself to the summer of 2026. The two clubs have agreed not to reveal details of the transfer.
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