Bayer 04 Leverkusen, also known as Bayer Leverkusen, Leverkusen, or simply known as Bayer, is a German women's football club based in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the Frauen-Bundesliga, the top tier of German women's football.

History

The origin of Bayer Leverkusen women's football section lies at the SSG 09 Bergisch Gladbach, which in the 1970s and 1980s was the dominating club in German women's football. In that period Bergisch Gladbach won the national women's football championship nine times which today is still the record. They also won the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

three times. After the inception of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

in 1990 their performance declined through the 1990s, eventually leading to relegation. In 1996 the women's team moved from SSG 09 Bergisch Gladbach to TuS Köln rrh. At Köln the team played mostly second-tier football with a few seasons in the third tier in between. Their greatest success was a semi-final appearance in the 2007–08 cup. However the team was not able to find sponsors, that would help to realize the team's ambitions of playing Bundesliga football again. Contemporaneously Bayer Leverkusen pronounced their interest to establish a women's football section of their own. On 25 June 2008 the women's football department of TuS Köln rrh. disbanded to join Bayer Leverkusen. In their first season at Bayer Leverkusen the team finished 7th in the south group of the 2. Bundesliga. The following season Leverkusen became champions of the 2. Bundesliga and would thus play in the Bundesliga in the 2010–11 season. In its debut season the team finished 8th. The following season the team finished 11th in the table, yet wasn't relegated as

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

announced its disestablishment of the women's section. Since the 2012–13 season, Leverkusen had been coached by Thomas Obliers, until his resignation in 2017. Leverkusen were relegated back to the 2. Bundesliga soon after.

Players

First-team squad

Former players

Seasons

Stadia

*Kurt-Rieß-Anlage (2008–2011) *Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion (Amateurstadion) (2011–2016) *Nachwuchsleistungszentrum Kurtekotten (2016–)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leverkusen, Bayer Football clubs in North Rhine-Westphalia

Women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

Women's football clubs in Germany 2008 establishments in Germany Association football clubs established in 2008 Frauen-Bundesliga clubs