Bayer 04 Leverkusen II


Bayer 04 Leverkusen II was the reserve team of German football club Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Until 2005 the team played as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Amateure.
The team has qualified for the DFB-Pokal, the German Cup, on eight occasions, but never advanced beyond the first round. Before being withdrawn from competition at the end of the 2013–14 season the team played in the tier four Regionalliga West.

History

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Amateure first entered the highest football league in the Middle Rhine region, the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein, in 1978 and won the league in its fourth season there, in 1981. The team spent the next seventeen seasons in the tier-three Oberliga Nordrhein, gradually improving its results. In 1994 the Regionalliga was established as the new third tier of German football and the team won promotion to this level after an Oberliga championship in 1998.
Bayer Leverkusen Amateure became a yo-yo team between the Regionalliga and Oberliga, winning promotion to the former in 1998, 2001 and 2005 but suffering relegation again each time, in 2000, 2003 and 2007. It became a more permanent member of the Regionalliga when the Oberliga Nordrhein was disbanded in 2008 and the Regionalliga West established, with the team entering the latter league.
The team spent its last six seasons from 2008 to 2014 in the tier-four Regionalliga West, where its best result was an eighth place in its last season there.
The team also qualified for the DFB-Pokal eight times, in 1981–82, 1989–90, 1992–93, 1996–97, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2003–04 and 2007–08, but never advanced past the first round.
In 2014 a change in the regulations by the Deutsche Fußball Liga regarding reserve teams meant that such sides, in the form of under-23 teams, were not compulsory anymore for Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga clubs. Following this change, some reserve teams were withdrawn from competition, among them Eintracht Frankfurt II, FSV Frankfurt II and Bayer 04 Leverkusen II. Bayer 04 Leverkusen had requested the change as it did not see much potential for reserve team players in the Regionalliga to break through to the Bundesliga side and wanted to focus on its under-17 and under-19 sides instead and to loan out young players.

Honours

The team's honours:
The recent season-by-season performance of the club:
YearDivisionTierPosition
1999–2000Regionalliga West/SüdwestIII16th↓
2000–01Oberliga NordrheinIV1st↑
2001–02Regionalliga NordIII8th
2002–03Regionalliga NordIII17th↓
2003–04Oberliga NordrheinIV4th
2004–05Oberliga NordrheinIV1st↑
2005–06Regionalliga NordIII11th
2006–07Regionalliga NordIII17th↓
2007–08Oberliga NordrheinIV2nd↑
2008–09Regionalliga WestIV9th
2009–10Regionalliga WestIV13th
2010–11Regionalliga WestIV15th
2011–12Regionalliga WestIV18th
2012–13Regionalliga WestIV11th
2013–14Regionalliga WestIV8th

↑ Promoted↓ Relegated

Stadium

The team used to play their home game at Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion, Platz 11, next to the club's main stadium, with a capacity of 3,200.