Remembering Leverkusen’s incredible run of near misses in the early 2000s

Bayer Leverkusen are not the most popular club in Germany, but it is still hard not to feel sorry for those involved in their famous run of near misses.

We’ve previously looked at some of the best players not to win a major trophy – but what about generations of teams?

You’d struggle to beat the Leverkusen side of 1997-2002; they finished as runners-up in four Bundesliga campaigns, a German Cup, and the Champions League, managing all three in the space of just 11 days in 2002.

Their reputation as the nearly-men of German football has even earned them the nickname ‘Neverkusen’.

It is worth emphasising that Bayer Leverkusen are not a popular club in Germany – even in 2024 after breaking Bayern Munich’s monopoly on the Bundesliga title.

Since the very beginning the club has been supported by the pharmaceutical giants Bayer, and as we’ve seen with Red Bull’s RB Leipzig, German fans will not warm to a side backed by corporate might.

In the mid-90s, Leverkusen had the infrastructure, the money, and one of Europe’s most energetic and ambitious general managers, Reiner Calmund. But they didn’t have the hearts of the people – and, more crucially, they didn’t have trophies.

Calmund set out to change that.

The side recovered from a disastrous season in 1996 which almost saw them relegated – they survived only by coming from behind to draw with Kaiserslautern, thereby relegating their opponents and becoming even more unpopular, as Kaiserslautern had been in the top flight since the league’s inception – and set about becoming title challengers under new manager Christophe Daum.

The 1996-97 season almost saw Daum lift the title at the first time of asking.

With new Brazilian signing Ze Elias in midfield, the young centre back trio of