Laying the pitch, which involved planting ready-made turf from the Netherlands, saved nine months – time that would better have been spent installing a better drainage system as that failed in a friendly in November 1958. The pitch was in such a poor state that they had to return to the Stadtpark at the end of the 1958/59 season. But nobody predicted that in August 1958.
The stands fill up with spectators from four o'clock and they are entertained by a brass band from the Bayer AG factories. To make it easier to find seats, the individual blocks are painted in the colour of the match tickets and not ordered by letters and numbers. At ten to five, Dr Fritz Jacobi, the chairman of Bayer 04, gives a speech and then receives a key from the architect and construction manager Viktor Calles in a symbolic handover.
The main event of the inauguration is the friendly between Bayer 04 and Oberliga side Fortuna Düsseldorf. In front of 11,000 spectators, Fortuna win 3-0 with the Bayer team missing lots of chances. The first goalscorer at the new Ulrich Haberland Stadium is a certain Jupp Derwall who went on to be the Germany coach and manager at Galatasaray where he won the Turkish league in 1987. At the end of the day the newspapers were positive and highlighted the special atmosphere at the new Bayer ground.
In this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of October. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
Show moreThe Werkself secured victory against Bayern Munich for the first time on 1 November 1986. On matchday 12, Bayer 04 beat the Bundesliga league leaders 3-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Munich and go top of the table.
Show moreTorben Hoffman was born in Kiel on 27 October 1974. In his youth he played for TuS Schwarz-Weiß Elmschershagen. The qualified policeman joined Holstein Kiel in 1993. Two years later he moved on to VfB Lübeck in Bundesliga two. After relegation with Lübeck in 1997 he came to attention of SC Freiburg and they signed the defender. The team relegated from the Bundesliga went straight back up with Torben who moved under the Bayer Cross in 1999 after another year in the Bundesliga. However, he was unable to establish himself at Leverkusen making only sporadic appearances and he was rarely in the starting XI. He played in a total of 30 games for the Werkself.
Show moreThomas ‘Thommy’ Reichenberger was born in Bad Kreuznach on 14 October 1974. The son of a former Bundesliga player – his father Max made 38 Bundesliga appearances for 1860 Munich – played for Eintracht Bad Kreuznach as a youth player before moving up to the first team.
Show moreManfred ‘Manni’ Pomp was born in Aachen on 25 October 1964. His first football club was the Aachen police sports club (PSV) but he signed for Alemannia Aachen after a year.
Show more