‘Ruuuudi’ is here!

 Rudi Völler war Bayer 04 shirt for the first time on 28 August 1994. In the Bundesliga home game against Eintracht Frankfurt, the prominent new signing made a perfect start scoring on 90 minutes to make it 4-0 just 12 minutes after coming off the bench.

A memorable football fest

 13 September 1994: Bayer 04 entertain PSV Eindhoven in the first round of the UEFA Cup. It turns into an unforgettable night of football. Bayer 04 beat the top Dutch club 5-4 with a certain Ronaldo scoring three goals. The same Ronaldo who scored both goals for Brazil in the victory against Germany at the 2002 World Cup final. The great quality of this exceptional striker stood out on that night at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. But one man also shone for Leverkusen: Ulf Kirsten netted three goals. Tom Dooley and Bernd Schuster scored the other goals for Bayer 04 and a 0-0 draw in the second leg took Leverkusen through to the next round.

Tom Dooley after his goal makes it 2-1 on 13 minutes.

End of the line at Parma

The path in the UEFA Cup led to games against Honved, GKS Katowice and FC Nantes on the way to the semi-finals. Bayer 04 went out at that stage to the eventual winners AC Parma.

The Bayer 04 players thank the fans for their support in Parma.

Goal of the year from Bernd Schuster

 Bernd Schuster achieve something that nobody has before him and nobody after him: Bayer 04's midfield maestro took the first three places in the 1994 goal of the year on the ARD sports programme. The top goal a year voted for by 88,000 football fans was his shot from 45 yards out in the 4-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt. His other two goals the month earned him second and third spot in the annual assessment. An unbeaten record to date.

He’s just scored from 45 yards out and it’s the goal of the year: Bernd Schuster. Hans-Peter Lehnhoff and Ioan Lupescu celebrate with him

Ribbeck replaces Stepanovic

 April 1995: Change of coaches at Bayer 04. Dragoslav Srepanovic is followed by Erich Ribbeck and the season ends with seventh place in the Bundesliga. Bayer miss out on the positions qualify for the UEFA Cup. The chance to qualify via the UI Cup goes begging as Bayer lose 7-5 on penalties in the quarter-final at FC Tirol Innsbruck.

Coach Erich Ribbeck returns. Kit man Klaus Zöller on the right.