2002-03 Bayer Leverkusen Match Issue Champions League Away Shirt Balitsch #14

Player - Up and coming midfield play-maker Hanno Balitsch #14Features Correct player size print and Champions Leage starball professionally heat pressedNo adidas patch to lower frontSmaller sponsor to meet UEFA regulationsLong-sleevedComes from the player's own personal collection - a signed letter verifying this will be providedNotes - Very rare player shirt believed to have been issued to or worn by Balitsch during the 2002-03 Champions League campaign. The midfielder joined Die Werkself this season from Köln for a reported €2 million as they looked right the wrongs of the previous season that had seen them finish runners up in the Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and Champions League. Balitsch featured 9 times in Europe this year as Leverkusen squeezed through their preliminary Group before losing out in the Secondary Group Phase. The former Waldhof Mannheim man made 45 appearances in all competitions this season as Bayer slipped to a dissapointing 15th in the Bundesliga. He stayed on for another two seasons at the BayArena before joining Mainz in January 2005 but would later return for a second spell in Leverkusen in 2010-12 and also had spells with Hannover, FSV Frankfurt and Nürnberg.