COACH:
Klaus TOPPMÖLLER
GOALKEEPERS:
01. Hans-Jörg BUTT
01. Adam MATYSEKDEFENDERS:
02. Robert KOVAČ 03. Marko BABIĆ 05. Jens NOWOTNY 06. Boris ŽIVKOVIĆ
19. LÚCIO 28. Carsten RAMELOW
35. Diego Rodolfo PLACENTEMIDFIELDERS:
07. Róbson PONTE 08. ZÉ ROBERTO
10. Yildiray BASTÜRK 10. ÉMERSON 13. Michael BALLACK 15. Jurica VRANJEŠ 22. Stefan BEINLICH 25. Bernd SCHNEIDER
26. Zoltán SEBESCENFORWARDS:
09. Ulf KIRSTEN 11. Paulo RINK
12. Dimitar BERBATOV 12. Thomas BRDARIĆ 27. Oliver NEUVILLEHonours:
* Bundesliga: Runners-up: 1999–2000, 2001–02
* DFB-Pokal: Runners-up: 2001–02
* UEFA Champions League: Runners-up: 2002
INFO:
The Almost Champions
The team earned a series of top four finishes from 1997 to 2002 that included four second place finishes. The finishes of 2000 and 2002 were heart-breaking for supporters as on both occasions the team had the Bundesliga title within its grasp. In 2000, Bayer Leverkusen needed only a draw against Unterhaching to win the title, but an own goal by Ballack helped send the team to a crushing 2–0 defeat, while Bayern Munich clinched the title with a (3:1) victory over Werder Bremen. Two years later, the club surrendered a five point lead atop the league table by losing two of its last three matches while Borussia Dortmund swept ahead with three consecutive victories in its final matches. The 2002 season has been dubbed the "Treble Horror", as Bayer Leverkusen were also beaten 4–2 in the German Cup final by Schalke 04, and lost the UEFA Champions League final to Real Madrid by 2 goals to 1, which also led to some of the English language media dubbing them "Neverkusen". Still, the club entered the record books as the first team ever to reach the UEFA Champions League final without winning a national championship before. They even had to qualify first for the participation in that year's UEFA Champions League.
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