Winning the DFB Pokal for Bayern Munich is much like an end-of-season party where the Bavarians celebrate the Bundesliga title in Berlin by adding the icing to the cake with the Pokal. For others it is a rarer (and therefore more special) occasion with Bayer Leverkusen being one such example.
The Werkself have only manged one triumph in the DFB Pokal back in 1993 when legendary coach Dragoslav Stepanović led them to a 1-0 win over Hertha Berlin. Whatever happened to Leverkusen’s Class of ’93?
Rüdiger Vollborn
The one-club man made 401 appearances for Leverkusen between 1982 and 2000 winning the UEFA Cup in 1988. He later became the club’s goalkeeping trainer. He can now be found working as a fan ambassador at the Bay Arena and is the co-commentator for Werkself Radio and the Werkself Podcast.
Christian Wörns
Defender Wörns had a seven-year spell with Leverkusen making over 200 appearances before joining PSG for a year and then Borussia Dortmund. On retiring he became a youth team coach at various clubs (Bochum U-15, Schalke U-17, 1860 Munich U-19). At the start of the current season he took charge of the German U-18 national team.
Franco Foda
The Pokal captain left the club in 1994 moving to VfB Stuttgart and then on to Austria with FC Basel and Sturm Graz. He moved into coaching there. He coached Kaiserslautern for a year after they were relegated from the Bundesliga in 2012. He is currently the Austrian national team trainer.
Markus Happe
Happe departed in 1999, but never really established himself at Schalke, Köln, or Kickers Offenbach. He returned to the club in 2007 to play for Bayer Leverkusen II. On retiring he played for the Bayern veterans’ side on the indoor circuit.
He’s now a businessman and owner of Happe Personalmanagement in Duisburg, which is involved in a number of ventures including recruitment, property protection and private investigation.
Martin Kree
Kree, who once had the hardest recorded shot of any Bundesliga player (137km/h), went on to win the Champions League trophy with Borussia Dortmund having started his career at VfL Bochum. He is now on the supervisory board at Bochum.
Andreas Fischer
There are many career paths open to retired footballers, but few enter the world of ventilation and refrigeration. That is however the path taken by Andreas Fischer, who moved into his father-in-law’s company in Hamburg after the end of his playing days.
Ioan Lupescu
The Romanian retired in 2002 back in his homeland and has had quite an interesting career path since. He launched a sports magazine that went bankrupt, he became general manager of the Romanian Football Federation and between 2012 and 2018 he also held the position of head of UEFA’s Technical Commission.
Heiko Scholz
Midfielder Scholz won seven caps for the old DDR and one for unified Germany, He left Bayer in 1995 for Werder Bremen and retired in 2000. He became c0-trainer at Duisburg in 2003 and coached Lokomotive Leipzig for five years. He is currently co-trainer at Dynamo Dresden- newly relegated from 2. Bundesliga.
Pavel Hapel
The Czech midfielder had a spell in Spain with Tenerife after leaving Leverkusen and moved into coaching back in his homeland. He is now the current Slovakian national team trainer.
Andreas Thom
Thom was one of the biggest names to move to the Bundesliga following the reunification of Germany. He later moved to Celtic before returning to join Hertha Berlin. He has coached at many levels for the capital club including a spell as co-trainer between 2003 and 2007. He is now the co-trainer of the club’s U-17 side.
Ulf Kirsten
Kirsten was the scorer of the only goal in the 1993 Pokal final. At the end of his career in 2003, Kirsten was hired by Bayer Leverkusen as assistant coach. In 2005 he moved to the position of head coach of the second team.
From October 2012, Kirsten worked for two sports agencies in the field of marketing and player placement with a focus on Asia. At the end of 2019, he and two friends opened a comparison portal for betting odds and since February 2019, Kirsten has been working for the fourth division club Wacker Nordhausen as a sports consultant and sponsorship officer.
Dragoslav Stepanović
‘Lebbe geht weider’ for the legendary coach and he still resides in Hessen, Germany. He is often interviewed for magazines and TV and is heavily involved in social projects. One such interest in as a coach for a mentally handicapped team and he is also Hessen’s ambassador for refugees.
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