Bayer Leverkusen was founded in 1904 by employees of the German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG, whose headquarters are in Leverkusen and from which the club draws its name.
The club has won one UEFA Cup, one DFB-Pokal, and won their first Bundesliga title in the 2023–24 season.
They have also finished runners-up five times in the Bundesliga and once each in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
Bayer Leverkusen has competed in European competition for 30 seasons, first qualifying for the 1986–87 UEFA Cup through a sixth placed finish in the 1985–86 Bundesliga, being Germany's fourth representative at the tournament.
The club has played in three European finals: they won the two-legged 1988 UEFA Cup final against Espanyol on penalties, lost 2–1 in the 2002 Champions League final against Real Madrid fourteen years later, and lost 3–0 to Atalanta in the 2024 Europa League final twelve years after this.