SC Leverkusen is an amateur football from the town of the same name in Germany’s North-Rhine Westphalia region that was formed in 2017 as a successor club to VfL Leverkusen, moving into Sportplatz Tannenbergstraße at the same time.
VfL Leverkusen
VfL were formed in the Küppersteg area of the town on July 25th 1950, at a meeting at the Sinzig pub following a merger of TuS Manfort 1904 and Jahn Küppersteg 1914, who were the home club of German international Paul Janes.
The team started out life playing in the then third tier Landesliga Mittelrhein, finishing their debut season in third place which was repeated in 1951-52. However, by the end of the 1953-54 campaign VfL were relegated to Bezirksklasse.
The side
recovered and won promotion back to the second level of the extended Landesliga
at the first attempt which then dropped down a tier after the formation of the Verbandsliga.
VfL reached that competition following promotion in 1962-63.
Their spell back in the third tier lasted just one season before the Verbandsliga eventually dropped down a level after the introduction of the Oberliga. VfL Leverkusen ended as Verbandsliga Mittelrhein champions in 2007-08 ahead of local rivals Fortuna Köln under coach Marco Zillken.
However, the DFB decreed that VfL should be denied promotion following the late filing of documents to secure their license. A fifth place followed as the chance of moving up disappeared before the team was relegated to the Landesliga in 2010-11 after Pano Kalandranis had taken charge of the team.
Giuseppe Brunetto was appointed as the new head coach, taking VfL to third place in 2011-12, which was bettered with a second spot in 2013-14 with Marcel Wandinger leading the scoring charts to win promotion to the fifth tier Mittelrheinliga.
VfL finished in eleventh in their first season in the competition prior to being relegated in 2015-16 in a season that saw Taner Durdu and then Bayer Kesisoglu take charge of the team prior to the appointment of Dario Paradiso.
The new man was given a difficult job at the club which was struggling with chronic financial troubles. The club withdrew from Landesliga Mittelrhein in February 2017 before being dissolved on March 18th.
SC
Leverkusen
On March 24th 2017 the newly formed SC Leverkusen took over the youth section of VfL, securing a place in the eleventh tier Kreisliga D 4, Köln with former VfL team boss Bayer Kesisoglu put in charge of the side.
He was succeeded by Turhan Göksen who led the side to a runners-up place and promotion in 2018-19 with Kevin Schmitz and Martin Grzesik providing the goals. Florim Nesimi took charge the following season with SC sitting in tenth place when play ended early owing to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Nehat Ljoki arrived as coach for the 2020-21 season which saw SC get off to a good start.
SC Leverkusen will play in Kreisliga C 3, Köln in the 2020-21 season.
My visit
SC Leverkusen 5 VfB 06 Langenfeld II 0 (Wednesday 26th August 2020) Friendly (att: c25)
I had returned to North-Rhine Westphalia to round off a tremendous couple of weeks leave surrounding a pretty bleak period marred by the COVID-19 pandemic. There were plenty of friendly matches to choose from in the region, so I needed no second invitation.
In fact, the option of a game at SC Leverkusen was one of the deciding factors. I’d seen football taking place at Kunstrasenplatz in the past as I walked through Stadtpark on my way to watch Bayer Leverkusen matches at BayArena.
I also wanted to take a proper look at the town in the hands of local knowledge. Marius Eve had been top class a few weeks earlier for advice and company. He was good to go to my match. I also got in touch with Sebi and Markus, the other two chaps from my previous trip.
Markus was away groundhopping elsewhere, but I met Sebi on the train after I’d boarded at Oberbilk. I’d visited Schwarz-Weiß 06 in Düsseldorf as an aperitif so was in the mood for football and to learn more.
Our train ride was interesting. Sebi hadn’t purchased a ticket and I had forgot to date stamp mine on the platform. It led to an interesting conversation with the guard who took pity on us, Maybe, because I pleaded my innocence and said what a fine job my host was doing of showing me around
We jumped out at Leverkusen-Küppersteg where we were met by Marius. I knew that there was more to the town than the bland area around Mitte station and was proved to be correct. If in doubt, ask a local!
We dined at Küppersteger Grill before enjoying beers at Küppersteger Kiosk, which had a Bayer Leverkusen fans group room at the back. We were given a full rundown while enjoying a couple of beers.
We then walked past the closed BayArena and along past fans graffiti. It was certainly a better option for fans wishing to imbibe pre match if going to a local game. We then walked along the lane that led to Tannenbergstraße.
The entrance to the ground was open meaning free admission. Marius had a chat with a club official who sold us Flensburger beers for €2 as a training session was in progress on the pitch. This was good news even if it was a cold night especially for an 8.15pm kick off. The bad weather had followed me over from the UK.
The venue had a 3G pitch, a couple of steps of terrace down one side backed by a steep bank and several bench seats. The rest is basic flat standing. The social facilities seemed good, and no doubt benefit from passing fans on their way to Bayer home games.
It was cold, windy and at times wet in the shadows of BayArena. The tubby visiting keeper Fabian Lennartz had a good game while showing his displeasure at my attempt to kick the ball back to him from behind the goal in the second half.
Langenfeld’s first team had beaten SC 2-1 at the same venue the previous week, with the visitors sending their second string to replace original opponents TuS 05 Quettingen who pulled out.
Leverkusen led 2-0 at the break before adding three in quick succession in a period in the second half. The fourth goal was an absolute cracker into the top corner of the net from the edge of the box.
We watched from by the clubhouse after the interval, with my pals having a chat with a local clubman. At full time Marius headed home while Sebi and I wandered to Mitte station to await our train back towards Düsseldorf.
It was too
late to head to the Aldstadt so I decided to walk back to my room at Hotel
Mondial and have a relatively early night.
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