The history of Bayer 04
History
Bayer 04 stand for attractive top quality football – in Germany and beyond. The club was promoted to the Bundesliga in 1979 and seven years later saw the Werkself qualify for Europe for the first time. The Werkself have now been on the European stage for decades and in the top-flight for more than 40 years. Around 300 people currently work for Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball Gmbh.
Facts
Then until now
Worth reading
Honorary captains
To document and reward loyalty to, and identity with, the club Bayer 04 honoured the first player with the title of honorary with Ulf Kirsten in 2004 in Ulf Kirsten. six others have joined in the following years: Carsten Ramelow in 2008, Bernd Schneider in 2010, Simon Rolfes in 2015, Stefan Kießling and Rüdiger Vollborn in 2019 plus Lars Bender in 2021. They all meet three appointment criteria to enter the illustrious ranks of Werkself legends: at least ten years at the club, at least 300 appearances and outstanding personality and character.
Shirt history
When our players posed for a team photo in October 1908, they wore a black "costume", as kits was called back then, with a red collar and cuff The Bayer Cross appeared as the club badge from 1936. In 1994, after a period with the club colours of red and white, the Bayer 04 fans encouraged the team to go back to their roots and wear black and red striped shirts. Those colours remain the club colours to this day.
DFB Pokal stats
Bayer 04 have reached the final of the national cup competition at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin five times. The Werkself won the title in 1993 with a 1-0 victory against the Hertha Berlin Reserves thanks to a goal from Ulf Kirsten. In 2024, Granit Xhaka scored against 1. FC Kaiserslautern to win the DFB Cup for the second time. The other finals were lost: 2002 with 2:4 against FC Schalke 04, 2009 with 0:1 against SV Werder Bremen and 2020 with 2:4 against FC Bayern Munich. An overview of all DFB DFB Pokal games in the club's history.
Profiles, interviews & stories
From "all the best" through "what is actually…?“ through to "my biggest duel": Over the course of the intervening year, numerous profiles, interviews and stories have appeared on bayer04.de, which tell exciting and interesting stories from the history of Bayer 04.
"Rudi recounts…"
…tales of days gone by. Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Cup (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. From February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month...
