“A wonderful person”: Leverkusen’s promotion coach Kremer has died

Former Bundesliga player and coach Willibert Kremer died on the night of December 24th at the age of 82 after a long and serious illness. Kremer had played for Hertha BSC and MSV Duisburg in the Bundesliga. As a coach he reached the cup final with MSV in 1975 and led Bayer Leverkusen to promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979.

Leverkusen and Duisburg expressed condolences to Kremer’s family on Saturday. Christoph Daum, Bayer’s head coach from 1996 to 2000, wrote on Instagram: “During my coaching days at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Willibert was an important advisor and a lovable friend.”

In the 1970s, Kremer brought the later Bayer manager Reiner Calmund to Leverkusen as a youth coach. Calmund told the Express: “His wife Paula called me on Christmas Eve and told me that Willibert had slept peacefully that night.” Kremer was “not only the successful promotion coach of Bayer Leverkusen”, “above all he was a wonderful person,” said Calmund.

At Viktoria Köln, Kremer had played in midfield in the Oberliga West under the later Cologne and Mönchengladbach master coach Hennes Weisweiler. Later he also trained in 1860 Munich, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Eintracht Braunschweig.

“It was with deep dismay that we learned that our former player Willibert Kremer has passed away. He has always been an idol for Viktoria and has shaped the club on and off the pitch,” said Viktoria President Günter Pütz after the honorary member’s death.