Bayer 04 as a starting point in life

‘From Kurtekotten to professional football’ – part two of the series is about Erik Zenga.

Erik Zenga is currently battling to stay up in the second division with SV Sandhausen. The fact he is there has a lot to do with youth development at Bayer 04 – and not just in terms of football.

Erik Zenga can remember the exact moment, or more accurately the coincidence, that changed his life for good. It’s the summer of 2001 and his coach at the Leverkusen club BV Bergisch Neukirchen has a question: “Can you imagine playing in a small-pitch tournament with the lads at Bayer 04 Leverkusen? They’re short of players.” Erik’s answer: “Of course.” And that was the first time he played in a Bayer 04 shirt. Just like that. His team wins the tournament.

A couple of days later, Erik is with his mother in the office of the then Leverkusen U9 coach Sven Hehl and he is allowed to choose his shirt number. “I was a proud Leverkusen player from that point,” recalled the second division player for SV Sandhausen. And that lasted unbroken for twelve years from the U9s to the Bayer 04 second team. The summer of 2001 marked the start of a new life for the then eight-year-old Erik.

FRom Kostroma to Opladen

That life was turned on its head three years earlier. The Moscow-born Erik was still living with his Russian mother in Kostroma, 300 kilometres north-east of the Russian capital. As his mother had come to the attention of the domestic authorities, she decided to leave the country with her five-year-old son. His father had returned to Angola years before. She applied for asylum in Germany.

Mother and son landed up at the refugee accommodation in Opladen in 1998 and were granted a temporary residence permit. ‘On sufferance’ in officialese. The status stays for seven years and that was Erik’s home. What sounds like a tough and uncertain life, is a good time for him: “There were so many children. We were outside for every free second playing football or hide and seek.”

joint campaign against deportation

His mother ensures that Erik can stay in school. And she was open about her status in Germany with her son. “I always knew my time in Germany could be over quickly,” It didn’t happen quickly but it got serious in 2005. Erik was now in his fifth year of playing for the Bayer 04 junior teams with the U13s. Deportation was on the agenda. “I can say without exaggeration: It was dramatic,” said Frank Ditgens, then the education director at the Leverkusen performance centre.

Together with coaches, other families and the paternal friend from the times in Bergisch Neukirchen, Dieter Lucke, Ditgens pulled out all the stops so Erik and his mother could stay in Germany. Ditgens recalls the adventurous mission with lawyer Peter Dreyer to the Russian embassy aiming to get a passport for Erik. He remembers the parents of a teammate seriously considering adopting him to ensure his right to stay in the country. All the efforts finally result in the indefinite right to remain being granted.

cupboard and bed donated, coach as removal man

Celebration with schnitzel and chips in a Leverkusen restaurant. “We hugged the whole time,” said Zenga. Now the Zengas need a flat, his mother a job. “And Bayer were incredibly helpful,” explained Erik. Teammates’ families donated furniture, the coaching staff – led by the then U13 coach Jörg Bittner – helped with the move. A wave of support carries the Zengas into the the new phase of their lives.

From now on it’s all about football and school for Erik. Both went well. Zenga progressed through all the Werkself youth teams. He is in the Germany U17 championship final with U17 team in 2010 with the match ending in a 1-0 defeat after extra time against Eintracht Frankfurt. The DFB comes knocking when he gets his German passport. The defensive midfielder makes eight appearances for the Germany U18 and U19 teams. He does his A-levels at the Landrat Lucas Grammar School. “And the tenacity of my mother and Bayer 04 played a big part,” he said looking back.

lasting impression

The dream of playing professional football becomes more tangible in the U19s. After a season with the Bayer 04 second team, it’s off to VfL Osnabrück in the third division, from there via Preußen Münster to SV Sandhausen, where he has been under contract since 2015 with the exception of a season-long loan to Hallescher FC. But the time at Leverkusen is firmly fixed in him with clear images and names. Trips with the teams, close games against FC Schalke 04 with Julian Draxler and Kerem Demirbay or Borussia Dortmund and lots of other big clubs, end of term trips, skiing vacations and a lot more have enriched his life.

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The people at the performance centre have made a lasting impression on him. “Ambition, discipline, respect, clear targets - my time at Leverkusen gave me all of that,” said the now 28-year-old family man. “But, above all, is the fact I can live in Germany with mother thanks to Bayer 04, was able to grow up under the best possible conditions and I am able to call this country my home.”

Erik Zenga again and again returns to Leverkusen, mostly during the summer breaks. His mother still lives in the first flat in Bürrig. There are still a lot of connections that all go back to that summer’s day in 2001.