Unforgettable Moments
Rudi Völler had plenty to do in the
Rudi Völler had plenty to do in the hectic days before May 18, 1996: PR appointments here, TV interviews there.
hectic days before May 18, 1996: PR appointments here, TV interviews there. After 19 professional years at Offenbach, 1860, Bremen, Roma, Marseille and Leverkusen, the 36-year-old was preparing to retire. It was only natural that football celebrities would come for the great farewell match a few days later.
But before then, Völler and Bayer still had a small problem to solve: they had to avoid relegation. “A farewell with relegation — that simply could not happen,” he later summed up.
Kaiserslautern, on the other hand, could have sent
Kaiserslautern, on the other hand, could have sent Bayer down.
Bayer down. A Lautern victory in Leverkusen and the Rhineland club, who until then had never finished higher than fifth, would have been gone after 27 years in the Bundesliga. Hardly anybody outside the BayArena would have mourned them.
Lautern’s players understood the stakes too. Yet what followed was one of the strangest relegation escapes in league history.
B04 Quiz BETA
Test your knowledge
The B04 Quiz tests your knowledge about Bayer 04 Leverkusen — from the club's founding to legendary matches and current Bundesliga statistics. Six multiple-choice questions, four options, only one is correct. After each question you'll learn the background — facts that surprise even die-hard fans.
How many questions does the B04 Quiz have?
The quiz consists of six multiple-choice questions with four options each. Questions cover club history, current Bundesliga data, and predictions.
Where do the quiz questions come from?
Questions are automatically generated from the Akte chapters of Bayer 04 Leverkusen — based on over 100 researched facts, current standings data, and Oracle predictions.
How often is there a new quiz?
New quiz questions appear twice a week (Monday and Thursday). Questions are compiled by AI from current and historical data.
Question 1 of 6
Dramatic Turning Points
At 1–0 the Leverkusen players stood aside as
At 1–0 the Leverkusen players stood aside as Uwe Wegmann wandered peacefully through midfield and scored.
Uwe Wegmann wandered peacefully through midfield and scored. Then, of all people, Markus Münch — who would return to Bayern after the season — launched the move that made survival possible. In the end Leverkusen stayed up and Lautern went down.
The scenes on the Bayer side were almost as emotional as those of the devastated Palatinate club. And with Christoph Daum arriving on July 1, 1996, a new era began immediately. The great irony remained: a clear act of unsporting behaviour had helped save Bayer Leverkusen from relegation and had condemned Kaiserslautern instead.
It was a very special moment indeed.