Bayer Leverkusen have no glorious history, their roll of honour fits on the back of a postage stamp, the stadium is half the size of Bayern Munich, Schalke or Borussia Dortmund's and their fans have the mildest reputation in Germany.
Leverkusen suffer regular taunts of 'plastic club' but another of the jibes, 'Neverkusen', could be laid to rest as they home in on a first league championship.
Sunday's 4-0 rout of Jens Lehmann's struggling Stuttgart lifted Leverkusen three points clear on a weekend when none of the other top six clubs won.
Canny coach Jupp Heynckes, 64 and now on his 10th club, has melded an effective unit, big on work ethic and attacking abilities. The spearhead is Stefan Kiessling, the league's top scorer, whose hat-trick against Stuttgart took his tally to 12.
Holding it together at the back is Sami Hyypia, 36, enjoying a fresh lease of life and crowd favourite status after calling time on a decade of service at Liverpool in the summer.
Leverkusen lies in the northern shadow of Cologne, a town and club effectively bankrolled by German chemical giant Bayer, whose huge electronic logo dominates the smokestack local skyline.
Compared to the Allianz, Veltins and Signal Iduna Parks of the Bundesliga, all towering cathedrals of the German game, Leverkusen's BayArena is more local church, though lacking nothing in luxurious home comforts.
A recent expansion lifted capacity from 22,500 to 30,210, with a hotel and luxury restaurant attached. Even so, Leverkusen are only the 15th-best supported club in the 18-strong Bundesliga. Big-city neighbours Cologne, who treat their fans to a grim annual battle for survival, attract an average 48,000 to their RheinEnergie Stadion.
Back at the BayArena, all is fan-friendly with the aura of orderliness and unshowy prosperity that typifies a successful German business. Inside the stadium, there is a wall of gleaming corporate glass at one end. The traditional standing section for the home hardcore, a raucous wall of sound behind the goal at so many German stadiums, is instead wedged into a corner.
In common with other clubs, however, Leverkusen operate an attractive ticket-pricing structure. It costs about £13 to stand with the faithful and share their close-up view of a corner-flag.
There is little of the desperate craving for success that typifies bigger rivals such as Schalke. Bundesliga culture is part rock concert, part beer festival and part football match but when Leverkusen pulled three goals ahead on the hour mark, the distinctly sober full house expressed their pleasure with a lengthy Mexican wave.
Derided for their lack of passion, Leverkusen's supporters are usually happy to watch their side exist happily in the Bundesliga comfort zone. The club's sole domestic success was a German Cup triumph in 1993. There was, of course, the ultimate 'Neverkusen' year in 2002 when a side including Chelsea's Michael Ballack finished runners-up in the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup.
Perhaps better awaits in 2010. They have yet to lose a league match this season and the way Stuttgart were put to the sword, a week after Bayer's highly satisfactory draw in Munich, suggests they are worthy and potential long-term leaders.
The afternoon was a personal triumph for Kiessling, the lanky, blond 25-year-old who will surely add to his meagre three international appearances. Hyypia's knock-down enabled him to smash home his first goal from close range midway through the first half, strike partner Eren Derdiyok headed second before the interval and Kiessling settled the issue with half an hour remaining after finishing coolly from Toni Kroos's dash through the middle. It was a moment of history; Leverkusen's 1,000th Bundesliga goal.
There was still time for Lehmann's day to take a further turn for the worse. The former Arsenal goalkeeper's rash lunge at Derdiyok three minutes from the end brought a yellow card and a penalty emphatically converted by Kiessling. Small club, big win, grand ambition.
So you want to go to Leverkusen The full lowdown on travelling to the BayArena to watch Bayer Leverkusen in action.
BayArena - So you want to go to Leverkusen
Theatre of bad dreams: Bayer Leverkusen's BayArena is set in the backdrop of an uninterrupted vista of chemical works and small shopping malls Photo: AFP
Getting there
Dusseldorf International airport or Cologne-Bonn airport. Both are served by a variety of British airlines including British Airways, EasyJet, BMI, Bmibaby and Flybe. This being Germany, trains are plentiful, quick and reasonably cheap. A Regional Express will take you from either airport to Leverkusen Mitte station within 30 minutes. From the station it is a 15-minute parkland walk to the BayArena.
Where to stay?
Certainly not in Leverkusen, unless an uninterrupted vista of chemical works and small shopping malls is your bag. Plenty to do in Cologne or Dusseldorf, the region's two stand-out cities. 
The match
The Bundesliga weekend programme is ranged from Friday to Sunday, with exact dates and kick-offs confirmed about eight weeks ahead. Consult the excellent Bundesliga website http://www.bundesliga.de/en. The Ruhr region is a fussball hotbed, much like Lancashire, and adding Bundesliga 2 options, you should be able to put together a football-packed weekend.
Tickets
With a 30,210 capacity, it doesn't take much to fill the BayArena and if any of the big boys - or Cologne - are in town you may be disappointed. http://www.bayer04.de/tickets is the club's German only website but that is too challenging, try emailing them in English. They will be awesomely polite and efficient. The more expensive option is online ticket agencies such as http://www.worldticketshop.com.
What to buy
Plenty of souvenir booths around the ground. Food and drink is cheap and tasty and the 80-page match programme is nominally one euro but is distributed free at many points.
