In 1904 employees of the pharmaceutical company Bayer, whose headquarters are in Leverkusen, formed a football club and that’s how Bayer Leverkusen drew its name. When you see the corporate logo in the club crest, you can almost hear their marketing slogan in your head: “the wonder drug that works wonders.” And certainly manager Xabi Alonso has worked wonders since taking over the club in October of 2022, when the side was sitting in the relegation zone.
Alonso, in his first senior team managerial role anywhere, guided them to safety and a sixth-placed finish in the Bundesliga.
Last May, Leverkusen established a new record for the longest undefeated streak in European football history (in the UEFA club competition era) with a 2–2 draw against Roma in the Europa League. It was their 49th straight match without a loss, surpassing the 48 accomplished by Benfica between 1963-1965. So how they did turn things around so dramatically? We’ll take a look at all those reasons here. Can Bayer Leverkusen defend their Bundesliga title this season? Well, they’re currently in second, eight points behind league leading Bayern Munich. However, as you can see at 1bettips, they have the best odds of anybody when it comes to potentially catching the Bavarian giants.
And that makes sense, given Leverkusen’s recent history of unprecedented success. Last year they became the first Bundesliga club to finish the league season undefeated. the first club in the Bundesliga to do so.
Not bad for a club that was only promoted to the top flight in 1979, and didn’t win a top flight trophy until 1988 (UEFA Cup). Their unbeaten across all competitions streak ran all the way until their 52nd game of the season, when they fell victim to a hat trick by Ademola Lookman as Atalanta bested them 3-0 in the Europa League final.
Their domestic unbeaten streak finally ended this past August with a 3–2 defeat to RB Leipzig. Included in that streak was a DFB Pokal triumph, the second in the club’s history (the first one came in 1993).
This made 2023-24 Bayer Leverkusen the first German team to win the league or domestic double in unbeaten fashion.
This is why Xabi is the hottest coaching commodity in the beautiful game today. The coaching carousel was unprecedented this past offseason, as the FC Barcelona, Liverpool FC and Bayern Munch jobs all became available. Alonso stayed put despite having played for both Bayern and Liverpool.
Given that he ended the club’s three decades long trophy drought last season (although it’s worth noting that Bayer Leverkusen club finished runners-up across three competitions in 2001-2002, including the UEFA Champions League), he’ll be highly sought after again this summer.
But there is more to the Bayer Leverkusen success story than just having an elite manager.
Their transfer strategy has been top notch as well.
Die Werkself (“The Factory XI”) or Die Schwarzroten (“The Black and Reds”) have been brilliant in building their roster, in both selling and buying. Perhaps the most impressive single piece of transfer business they ever accomplished was the sale of striker Kai Havertz to Chelsea for €84 (or £71) in the summer of 2020.
At a time when transfer spending was way down, due to the covid-19 pandemic, Leverkusen brokered the sale of the most expensive German born footballer ever. That record still stands today. And Havertz, who has since been sold across old London town to Arsenal, is currently the 27th most expensive player of all-time.
Is he good? Yes. Is he among the top 30 best players in the world? Absolutely not, and thus, this was brilliant business.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.