Champion, Germany international and defensive supremo
Leo Wilden turns 85
Leo Wilden was at Bayer 04 for seven years with three years as a player and four as a club official. He achieved his biggest sporting success with FC Köln but the defender also made his mark at Leverkusen. Leo Wilden celebrates his 85th birthday today, 3 July 2021. Bayer 04 wish him a very happy birthday.
When Leverkusen signed Leo Wilden in the summer of 1966, it was justifiable to talk about a transfer coup. Wilden was twice a champion of Germany with FC Köln in 1962 and 1964, he also took part in the 1962 World Cup in Chile and he made 15 appearances for Germany. Bringing in the big-name new signing brought hope at Leverkusen for greater stability in defence. In the years before that it had certainly leaked goals.
Wilden was considered to be an uncompromising, battling centre half who was able to organise a defence. On the other hand, he stood out with his good technique and vision. He had a lot of experience as a 30-year-old former Bundesliga player. "In spite of his success, I got to know and value Leo as a reserved person," recalls Friedhelm Renno, back then teammate of Wilden's in goal. "He had great footballing qualities, but the team always came first and he was a positive fellow player overall," says Renno, who is now the chair of the elders committee of the football section at TSV Bayer 04.
Even with Leo Wilden, Bayer 04 only finished tenth in the Regional League West in the 1966/67 season. The Cologne-born player was one of the key members of the team in his second season at Leverkusen under coach Theo Kirchberg and the team cruised to the title and thereby qualified for the Bundesliga play-offs. "Leo was somebody who kept the defence in shape," says Helmut Röhrig, another teammate from back then. "We all looked up to him. He was an absolute professional who led the way as you could see immediately. He talked a lot on the pitch, was rigorous with his instructions and he sometimes had sharp words. But he was always friendly. I benefited a lot from him because I was able to focus on attacking with him behind me."
And Willi Haag, the right-back at the time, enjoys looking back at his time with Leo Wilden: "I joined Leverkusen in 1967 and I played alongside a former international in the defence as a 23-year-old. That was something special for me. Leo set out clearly where we had to be in the defence and how we played out from the back. He radiated an incredible calm on the ball, everybody respected him and he was in close contact with the coach Theo Kirchberg."
The Bayer team just failed to go through in the promotion play-offs and in 1968 missed out on moving up to Germany's top flight with a second-place finish behind Kickers Offenbach. "We got a sniff of promotion and were up for it," said Leo Wilden after a season that unleashed a new football euphoria in Leverkusen. But hopes of promotion in the following 1968/69 season did not come to fruition – Bayer 04 only finished in eighth place.
Leo Wilden, now 33, had to end his career because of a heart problem but he did stay with Leverkusen as a club official. In 1971 he was the deputy to the football chairman Dr. Jürgen Schwericke and he worked in that post under the Bayer Cross until 1973. Wilden went on to coach number of amateur clubs in and around Cologne. He also worked as a scout for FC Köln and between 1995 and 2010 he was on their sports and club committee.
During his time at Bayer 04 the trained joiner worked in wholesale and retail with tobacco goods. He had shops in several parts of Cologne and today his daughter Gitta manages them.
