Given the other answers seem to be trolling. I’ll give you a bit of the history.
Bayer in a chemical and pharmaceutical company (they bought for instance Monsanto a few years ago) that originated in Wuppertal, Germany but Wuppertal is effectively just a small valley with no space for big production plants.
So Bayer built a factory in Leverkusen, a very small town back then with little to no relevance except the space it offered. Nowadays, it’s the heart of the German chemical industry, more or less. But Bayer made the start. That was about 1900.
The soccer club Bayer 04 Leverkusen came into existence as an afterwork hobby for the people working there.
It’s a so called Werkself (“factory eleven”) similar to Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg doesn’t have VW in the name but it was originally a team that solely consisted of VW workers. That is why only these two clubs theoretically are allowed to have a company name because it’s their historic origin.
That is for instance why RB Leipzig is so looked down upon they were a small club that got artificially pumped up with money and then tried to trick their way around the naming rules by naming themselves “Rasenballsport Leipzig.” After “Red Bull Leipzig” was denied
Schalke 04 was a miner’s club but not for an individual coal mine but all coal mines in Gelsenkirchen. Schalke was only the part of Gelsenkirchen they had their pitch. But that too originally was an afterwork hobby.
I’m sure I missed several clubs with similar origins. Probably all clubs that are 100 years and older.
Given the other answers seem to be trolling. I’ll give you a bit of the history.
Bayer in a chemical and pharmaceutical company (they bought for instance Monsanto a few years ago) that originated in Wuppertal, Germany but Wuppertal is effectively just a small valley with no space for big production plants.
So Bayer built a factory in Leverkusen, a very small town back then with little to no relevance except the space it offered. Nowadays, it’s the heart of the German chemical industry, more or less. But Bayer made the start. That was about 1900.
The soccer club Bayer 04 Leverkusen came into existence as an afterwork hobby for the people working there.
It’s a so called Werkself (“factory eleven”) similar to Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg doesn’t have VW in the name but it was originally a team that solely consisted of VW workers. That is why only these two clubs theoretically are allowed to have a company name because it’s their historic origin.
That is for instance why RB Leipzig is so looked down upon they were a small club that got artificially pumped up with money and then tried to trick their way around the naming rules by naming themselves “Rasenballsport Leipzig.” After “Red Bull Leipzig” was denied
Schalke 04 was a miner’s club but not for an individual coal mine but all coal mines in Gelsenkirchen. Schalke was only the part of Gelsenkirchen they had their pitch. But that too originally was an afterwork hobby.
I’m sure I missed several clubs with similar origins. Probably all clubs that are 100 years and older.