Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen

Full name	Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH
Nickname(s)	Die Werkself (The Factory XI)[1] Die Schwarzroten (The Black and Reds)[2]
Founded	1 July 1904; 120 years ago (1904-07-01)
Ground	BayArena[3]
Capacity	30,210[4]
Owner	Bayer AG[5]
Chairman	Fernando Carro[6]
Sporting director	Simon Rolfes[5]
Coach	Xabi Alonso
League	Bundesliga
2023–24	Bundesliga, 1st of 18 (champions)
Website	bayer04.de
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH (German: [ˌbaɪ̯ɐ ˈleːvɐˌkuːzn̩]) and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia.^[7] It competes in the Bundesliga, the top tier of German football, and plays its home matches at the BayArena.^[3][8]

Founded in 1904 by employees of the pharmaceutical company Bayer (whose headquarters are in Leverkusen and from which the club draws its name), the club was formerly a department of TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen and RTHC Bayer Leverkusen, sports clubs whose members participate in athletics, gymnastics, basketball, field handball, rowing, tennis and hockey. In 1999, the football department was separated from the sports club.^[8] Bayer Leverkusen's main colours are red and black, which feature across their playing kits and badge, and their main rivals are 1. FC Köln, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Fortuna Düsseldorf.^[9]

Bayer Leverkusen were promoted to the Bundesliga in 1979 and won their maiden top-flight honor, the UEFA Cup, in 1988. The club won its first domestic honour, the DFB Pokal, in 1993. The club finished runners-up across three competitions in 2002, including the UEFA Champions League. After over 30 years without silverware, the club won their first Bundesliga title and their second DFB Pokal in 2024,^[10][11] becoming the first German team to win the league or domestic double unbeaten, while setting the European record for consecutive unbeaten competitive games (51).

On 27 November 1903, Wilhelm Hauschild wrote a letter – signed by 180 of his fellow workers – to his employer, the Friedrich Bayer and Co., seeking the company's support in starting a sports club.^[12] The company agreed to support the initiative, and on 1 July 1904 Turn- und Spielverein Bayer 04 Leverkusen was founded as a works team.^[12] On 31 May 1907, a separate football department was formed within the club.^[12] In the culture of sports in Germany at the time, there was significant animosity between gymnasts and other types of athletes.^{[citation needed]} Eventually this contributed to a split within the club: on 8 June 1928, the footballers formed a separate association – Sportvereinigung Bayer 04 Leverkusen – that also included the handball and fistball players, athletics, and boxing, while the gymnasts carried on as TuS Bayer 04 Leverkusen. SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen took with them the club's traditional colours of red and black, with the gymnasts adopting blue and yellow.

Through this period, and into the 1930s, SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen played third and fourth division football.^[13] In 1936, they earned promotion to the second highest class of play of the period.^[13] That was also the year that the club wore the "Bayer" cross, still visible on their kits, for the first time.^[13] They made their first appearance in upper league play in 1951, in the Oberliga West and played there until 1956, after which they were relegated.

SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen would not return to the upper leagues until 1962, just one season before the formation of Germany's new professional league, the Bundesliga. The next year saw the club in the Regionalliga West, tier II, where their performances over the next few seasons left them well down^[vague] the league table.

SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen made something of a breakthrough in 1968 by winning the division title, but was unable to advance to the playoff round to the first division. The club was relegated again in 1973, but made a quick return to what was now called the 2. Bundesliga after just one season spent in the third division. Four years later, the club secured a place in the Bundesliga to start to play there in the 1979–80 season.

By the mid-1980s, SV Bayer 04 Leverkusen had become established in the upper half of the league table and was well-established there by the end of the decade. It was during this time, in 1984, that the two halves of the club that had parted ways over a half century earlier were re-united as TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen e.V. The new club took red and white as its colours.

In addition to becoming an established Bundesliga side, the club earned its first honours with a win in the 1988 UEFA Cup. Down 0–3 to Espanyol after the first leg of the final, Bayer Leverkusen drew even in the return match and then won the title on penalty kicks, 3–2.^[14][15]

That same year, long-time Bayer Leverkusen executive Reiner Calmund became the general manager of the club. The decade and a half following this saw club's greatest successes.

After the German reunification in 1990, Reiner Calmund was quick to sign prominent East German players Ulf Kirsten, Andreas Thom and Jens Melzig. The three players would become instant crowd favourites,^{[citation needed]} and make significant contributions to the team.^{[citation needed]} Calmund also established contacts in Brazilian football, befriending Juan Figer, one of Brazil's most powerful player agents.^{[citation needed]} Over the next few^[quantify] years, budding superstars,^[tone] such as Jorginho and Paulo Sérgio, joined the team, as did Czech star^[tone] Pavel Hapal. The club also signed charismatic^{[according to whom?]} players, such as Bernd Schuster, and Rudi Völler, helping to ensure the team's popularity^{[according to whom?]} and growing success.

The club won its next major honour in 1993 with a 1–0 win in the DFB-Pokal final against Hertha BSC second team (amateur squad) on 12 June 1993.^[15][16] In the following season, in a game in which Schuster scored a 45 m "German Goal of the Year" (a goal which was later also named "Goal of the Decade"), Bayer played Eintracht Frankfurt early in the season, and, as both a "tip of the hat" to its own history as well as an attempt to perhaps^{[according to whom?]} upset the Frankfurt team, Bayer played in its new third colours, which were old-fashioned red and black stripes, similar jerseys to those Frankfurt generally^[vague] wore at the time.^{[citation needed]} This proved so popular with the fans that, very shortly thereafter,^[vague] the team reverted to its "retro" colours of red and black, colours used on all home jerseys ever since.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bayer 04 Leverkusen kits.

After a near disaster^[tone] in 1996 when the club faced a relegation battle, Bayer Leverkusen established itself as a powerful^[tone] side, offering a technically pleasing^{[according to whom?]} offensive style of play under new coach Christoph Daum, who was also helped by the signing of players such as Lúcio, Emerson, Zé Roberto and Michael Ballack. Daum was later to be famously^{[according to whom?]} fired for a cocaine scandal that also cost him his ascent to the role of the Germany national team coach.^{[vague][17][18]}

The team earned a series of four second-place finishes from 1997 to 2002. The finishes of 2000 and 2002 were heart-breaking^[19] for supporters, as on both occasions the team had the Bundesliga title within its grasp.^[19] In 2000, Bayer Leverkusen needed only a draw against SpVgg Unterhaching to win the title, but an own goal by Michael Ballack helped send the team to a crushing^[19] 2–0 defeat, while Bayern Munich won the title with a 3–1 victory over Werder Bremen. Two years later, the club surrendered a five-point lead atop the league table by losing two of its last three matches, while Borussia Dortmund swept ahead^[tone] with three consecutive victories in its final matches. The 2002 season has been dubbed^{[by whom?]} the "Treble Horror", as Bayer Leverkusen were also beaten 4–2 in the DFB-Pokal final by Schalke 04 and lost the UEFA Champions League final 2–1 to Real Madrid, which also led to some of the English-language media dubbing them "Neverkusen".^[20][21][22] Leverkusen was the first team to reach the final of the Champions League without ever having won a national championship.^[23] In addition, five members of the Bayer Leverkusen team were also members of the Germany national team which lost the final of the World Cup of 2002.

In the 2002 off-season, the team sold midfielders Michael Ballack and Zé Roberto to Bayern Munich. Klaus Toppmöller, who had coached the team during its most successful year, was replaced by the Thomas Hörster.^{[citation needed]} Klaus Augenthaler managed the last two games of the season with a win over his previous club, 1. FC Nürnberg.^{[citation needed]} Bayer Leverkusen finished at a third-place finish and a Champions League place the following year.

That following season's run in the Champions League saw the club open its group stage campaign with a 3–0 win against Real Madrid^[24] a result which helped Leverkusen to win the group.^[25] Leverkusen, however, was defeated in the first knockout round by eventual champions Liverpool.^[26][27] The club finished sixth during the 2004–05 season to qualify for the next season's UEFA Cup.

Early in 2005, Augenthaler was fired as manager after the club got off^[tone] to its worst Bundesliga start in over 20 years, with only one win in its first four league matches and a 0–1 home loss to CSKA Sofia in the first leg of its UEFA Cup match-up.^[28] Former Germany national team manager Rudi Völler, who had been named sporting director prior to the season, took charge of five matches as caretaker manager.^{[vague][29][30]} Michael Skibbe, who was Völler's assistant coach with the national team, was named as his successor in October 2005.^[30] Skibbe turned Leverkusen's season around,^{[tone][vague]} and guided the club to a sixth-place finish in 2006, earning another UEFA Cup place, and then repeated that feat with a fifth place Bundesliga finish in 2007.^[30]

The 2007–08 season was not a successful one for Leverkusen despite a good start to the season; five out of the last ten league matches were lost to clubs in the lower half of the table.^{[citation needed]} Michael Skibbe was heavily criticised^{[by whom?]} towards the end of the season after he continuously changed his starting line up.^{[citation needed]} Bayer Leverkusen also lost a lot^[quantify] of its support towards the end of the season: in the 1–2 home loss against Hertha BSC, the Leverkusen fans caused much commotion, with fans chanting for the sacking of Skibbe, while some Ultras, who had seen enough,^[vague] set fire to their jerseys and threw them onto the field. Michael Skibbe was sacked soon thereafter, leaving the club on 21 May 2008, with club officials stating that his departure was due to the team not qualifying for the following season's UEFA Cup group stage.^[31]

The 2008–09 season got off to a great start^{[according to whom?]} for Bayer Leverkusen under new manager Bruno Labbadia, who the club had acquired from 2. Bundesliga club SpVgg Greuther Fürth.^[32] As the season progressed, however, the team secured no wins against top^[vague] clubs in the Bundesliga. However, Leverkusen reached the DFB-Pokal final on 30 May 2009 in Berlin, but lost the game 0–1 to Werder Bremen.^[30][33] Leverkusen finished the season in ninth place in the Bundesliga table and Labbadia moved to Hamburger SV in June 2009.^[vague][34] Shortly thereafter,^[when?] Leverkusen presented Jupp Heynckes, who had previously managed Bayern Munich after Jürgen Klinsmann's departure, as its new manager.^[35] In the 2010–11 season, Bayer Leverkusen finished as runner-up, thus qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since 2005. However, Heynckes decided not to extend his contract and left Bayer Leverkusen in the 2011 close season to take over at Bayern Munich for a third time.^[36] In the 2012–13 and 2015–16 seasons, Leverkusen finished third with coach Sami Hyypiä and Roger Schmidt respectively, but were knocked out in the round of 16 of the Champions League the following season both times. In the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, Leverkusen reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 2008,^[37] but were ultimately^[vague] knocked out by Inter Milan in a 2–1 loss.

In October 2022, with the club in the relegation zone, Leverkusen appointed Xabi Alonso as head coach in his first senior managerial role; he went on to guide the team to safety and a sixth-placed finish.^[38] In 2023–24, Alonso's first full season in charge, Leverkusen achieved significant domestic and European milestones, bolstered by effective squad building and strategic signings including Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka, Victor Boniface, Jonas Hofmann, Alejandro Grimaldo, and Matej Kovar.^[39] By early 2024, they had set a new club record for the longest unbeaten start to a season followed by breaking the Bundesliga record (formerly held by Hamburger SV since the 1982–83 season) for the longest unbeaten run by a club in all competitions with 26 games unbeaten^[40] followed by breaking the European record of the European "top 5 leagues" (Bundesliga, Premier League, Primera División, Ligue 1, Serie A) set by Juventus in 2011 and 2012 of 43 cross-competitive compulsory games in a row without defeat.^[41][42] On 14 April 2024, Leverkusen were crowned Bundesliga champions for the first time ever after beating Werder Bremen 5–0, ending Bayern Munich's run of 11 successive league titles.^[10][43] This was the club's first trophy since winning the 1992–93 DFB-Pokal.^[44] On 9 May 2024, Leverkusen set a new record for the longest run of matches without a loss in European football history (since the introduction of UEFA club competitions) following a 2–2 draw against Roma in the Europa League; they broke the previous record of 48 set by Benfica between 1963 and 1965.^[45][46] Leverkusen then finished the league season unbeaten, the first club in the Bundesliga to do so.^[47][48] Their unbeaten streak ended in their 52nd game of the season with a hat trick by Ademola Lookman giving them a 3–0 loss to Atalanta in the Europa League final.^[49][50] They won the 2024 DFB-Pokal final by beating 1. FC Kaiserslautern to win the domestic double.^[51] At the start of the new season on 17 August 2024, the team won the 2024 DFL-Supercup for the first time ever beating VfB Stuttgart after penalties. However, their domestic unbeaten streak ended on 31 August 2024 after a 3–2 defeat to RB Leipzig.

• 
  1923–1928
• 
  1928–1938
• 
  1948–1965
• 
  1965–1970
• 
  1970–1976
• 
  1976–1984
• 
  1984–1990
• 
  1990–1996
• 
  Since 1996

In contrast to many other German football clubs, which hold close ties to their working-class roots, Bayer Leverkusen strives for a clean, family-friendly image.^[52] The BayArena has the reputation of being one of the most family-friendly football stadiums in Germany.^[52] Conversely, Bayer 04 was the first Bundesliga club whose fans identified themselves as Ultras and the city of Leverkusen is one of the old industrial cities of Germany.^[53]

Bayer Leverkusen is perceived by some^{[by whom?]} to have an ongoing image problem of a different sort.^[vague][54] Although they are a financially healthy club with a stable of strong players,^[tone] many fans of the traditional clubs denounce^[tone] Bayer Leverkusen as being a "plastic club" without traditions or a committed fan base, existing solely as a creation of their rich pharmaceutical company sponsor – Bayer AG.^[55][56] As a result, the club and their fans have started to emphasize their industrial origins with pride, calling themselves "Werkself" (Eng. "Company Eleven", "Factory team", "Millhanders") or "Pillendreher" (Eng. "Tablet twisters").^[57][58]

Bayer Leverkusen's corporate origins, however, are far from unique. Other clubs, including PSV, FC Carl Zeiss Jena and Sochaux, share a similar reputation of being works teams.^[59][60] As distinguished from the various Red Bull teams (Salzburg, New York and Leipzig) which have been established or redefined in the recent past^[when?] primarily for commercial reasons, the formation of Bayer Leverkusen was motivated by the idea of promoting the living conditions of local factory workers early in the 20th century. In view of this tradition, UEFA allows Bayer Leverkusen to use the brand name Bayer in European club competitions, while disallowing such naming practices, most notably to Red Bull Salzburg.^[61]

In March 2020, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and RB Leipzig, the four German UEFA Champions League teams for the 2019–20 season, collectively gave €30 million to Bundesliga and to Bundesliga teams that were struggling financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[62]

• Bundesliga
  • Winners: 2023–24
  • Runners-up: 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2010–11
• 2. Bundesliga North
  • Winners: 1978–79

• DFB-Pokal
  • Winners: 1992–93, 2023–24
  • Runners-up: 2001–02, 2008–09, 2019–20
• DFL-Supercup
  • Winners: 2024
  • Runners-up: 1993

• UEFA Champions League
  • Runners-up: 2001–02^[11]
• UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League
  • Winners: 1987–88^[11]
  • Runners-up: 2023–24

• German Under 19 Championship
  • Winners: 1986, 2000, 2007^[63]
  • Runners-up: 1995, 2001, 2003, 2010^{[citation needed]}
• German Under 17 Championship
  • Winners: 1992, 2016^{[citation needed]}
• Under 19 Bundesliga West
  • Winners: 2007, 2010^{[citation needed]}

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As of 23 October 2024

As of 30 August 2024^[64]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  FIN Lukas Hradecky (captain) 3 DF  ECU Piero Hincapié 4 DF  GER Jonathan Tah (vice-captain) 7 MF  GER Jonas Hofmann 8 MF  GER Robert Andrich 10 FW  GER Florian Wirtz 11 MF  FRA Martin Terrier 12 DF  BFA Edmond Tapsoba 13 DF  BRA Arthur 14 FW  CZE Patrik Schick 17 GK  CZE Matěj Kovář 19 MF  NGA Nathan Tella

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  ESP Álex Grimaldo 21 MF  MAR Amine Adli 22 FW  NGA Victor Boniface 23 DF  FRA Nordi Mukiele (on loan from Paris Saint-Germain) 24 MF  ESP Aleix García 25 MF  ARG Exequiel Palacios 30 DF  NED Jeremie Frimpong 34 MF  SUI Granit Xhaka 36 GK  GER Niklas Lomb 39 DF  TOG Sadik Fofana 44 DF  FRA Jeanuël Belocian

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  CIV Odilon Kossounou (at Atalanta until 30 June 2025) — MF  BEL Noah Mbamba (at Fortuna Düsseldorf until 30 June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  COL Gustavo Puerta (at Hull City until 30 June 2025)

Players in bold are active.

Most Leverkusen appearances[65] Rank Nat. Player Period Apps 1 Rüdiger Vollborn 1982–1999 487 2 Thomas Hörster 1977–1991 453 3 Ulf Kirsten 1990–2003 448 4 Stefan Kießling 2006–2018 444 5 Carsten Ramelow 1996–2008 437 6 Simon Rolfes 2005–2015 377 7 Gonzalo Castro 2005–2015 370 8 Bernd Schneider 1999–2009 366 9 Jonathan Tah 2015–present 353 10 Lars Bender 2009–2021 342

Top scorers[65] Rank Nat. Player Period Goals 1 Ulf Kirsten 1990–2003 240 2 Stefan Kießling 2006–2018 162 3 Dimitar Berbatov 2001–2006 91 4 Herbert Waas 1982–1990 87 5 Christian Schreier 1984–1991 83 6 Paulo Sérgio 1993–1997 64 7 Cha Bum-Kun 1983–1989 63 8 Lucas Alario 2017–2022 58 9 Karim Bellarabi 2011–2023 57 10 Oliver Neuville 1999–2004 56

As of 5 October 2022

Position	Staff
Head coach	Xabi Alonso
Assistant coach	Sebastián Parrilla Alberto Encinas
Goalkeeper coach	David Thiel
Fitness coach	Markus Müller Jonas Rath Schahriar Bigdeli Daniel Jouvin
Analysis	Marcel Daum
Analyst first-team squad	Simon Lackmann
Head of sports science and Athletics	Malte Krüger
Licence Coordination	Stefan Kießling
Team Doctor	Karl-Heinrich Dittmar Burak Yildirim Philipp Ehrenstein
Physiotherapist	Fritz Gard Florian Kroder Manuel Schardt Tobias Schäuble
Support Staff	Martin Kowatzki Christian Becker Markus Irmer
Team Manager	Hans-Peter Lehnhoff

As of 5 October 2022^[66]

• TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen (handball)
• Bayer Giants Leverkusen (basketball)
• KFC Uerdingen 05
• Works team
• The Football Club Social Alliance
• Leverkusen

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bayer Leverkusen.

• Official website (in German)
• Bayer 04 Leverkusen at Bundesliga
• Bayer 04 Leverkusen at UEFA
• Leverkusen statistics. Archived 23 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine.
• Bayer Leverkusen formations at football-lineups