Victor Boniface with a goal and an assist, plus a Florian Wirtz’ hattrick and a Granit Xhaka strike seal championship victory for Die Werkself on MatchDay 29 against Werder Bremen.
Bayer Leverkusen Are Bundesliga Champions for 2023-24
Founded by the employees of German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, Bayer AG in 1904, Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball bags a historic feat by clinching a first-ever Bundesliga in 45 years since gaining promotion to the top tier in 1979.
The historic feat was befitting at the 30,210-capacity BayArena stadium in the
factory-based remote city of Leverkusen, located between Düsseldorf to the North and Cologne to the south in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany.
With local rivals as 1. FC Koln, Borrusia Monchengladbach, and Fortuna Dusseldorf Bayer 04 rank among the top five of German football in the modern era due to their regular appearance in European championships and multiple runner-up league finishes (with a league record of five times).
The 2001-02 season remains a season to forget for Die Werkself who were on the brink of clinching the Treble, only to lose the Bundesliga on the final day to Borussia Dortmund via a point (70-69), the UEFA Champions League final to Real Madrid (2-1), and the DFB-Pokal final to Schalke 04 (4-2).
“Football intelligence. We have signed strategic players to be more efficient and consistent in our football”
– Xabi Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen Coach
The near-success syndrome has now been cured with the advent of current gaffer Xabi Alonso coaching his team to glory in stunning fashion following 25 wins, 4 draws, and 74 goals in 29 games, clinching the Bundesliga undefeated with six games outstanding.
Bayer Leverkusen now sustains a 43-game unbeaten run in the 2023-24 campaign while competing on two more fronts in the UEFA Europa League quarters against West Ham, and the DFB-Pokal final against Kaiserslautern.
Bayer’s story would be sketchy without the honorary mention of Wilhelm Hauschild, who wrote a letter on the 27th day of November 1903, signed by 170 of his colleagues, to his employer, Friedrich Bayer & Co of the Bayer AG factory, requesting the company’s support in starting a sports club.
The move birthed TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a sports club whose members participate in athletics, gymnastics, basketball, field handball, rowing, tennis, and hockey.
However, in 1999, the football department was separated from the Sports Club into an independent entity called Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, going on to house world-class players like Brazil’s Zé Roberto and Ricardo Kaka, Bulgaria’s Dimitar Berbatov, Mexico’s Javier Hernández (Chicharito), Heung-min Son, Germany’s Toni Kroos, to mention but a few.
From a team tagged with never winning to a squad known for never losing, Die Werkself rises to the occasion and brings Leverkusen to the fore of the German Football Championship unscathed.
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