SV Werder Bremen

Did You Know?

• Werder have had 24 different managers since the Bundesliga era began in 1963; Otto Rehhagel served the longest term at fourteen years.
• Werder were joint winners of the 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup.

History

A group of 16-year-old students founded FV Werder Bremen on 4 February 1899 after winning a football in a tug of war contest. The club’s name comes from the German word for a river peninsula, a nod to the riverside field where the team first played. Their first match, on 10 September 1899, ended in a 1-0 victory over ASC 1898 Bremen. In 1900, the club became a founding member of the German Football Association. Early success followed, with several local championships, and in 1903 all three of the club’s teams won their local leagues. Werder also became the first side in Bremen to charge entry fees for home games. After World War I, the club added sports like athletics, baseball, chess, cricket, and tennis. On 19 January 1920, the club adopted its current name, Sportverein Werder Bremen. In 1922, they hired their first professional coach, Hungarian Ferenc Kónya, another first for Bremen. During the 1920s and early 1930s, Werder regularly reached the Northern German championship play-offs but never won a title. Striker Matthias Heidemann became the club’s first international player in the mid-1930s. Werder won the Gauliga Niedersachsen in 1933-34, 1935-36, 1936-37, and 1941-42, qualifying for the national championship play-offs each time, with a quarterfinal finish in 1942 being their best result. Because professionalism was banned in German football, several players worked at the nearby Brinkmann tobacco factory, earning the team the nickname “Texas 11” after one of the factory’s cigarette brands. Between World War II and the Bundesliga’s formation in 1963, Werder was considered one of northern Germany’s top two clubs, alongside Hamburger SV. In 1960-61, they won their first DFB-Pokal, beating 1. FC Kaiserslautern 2-0 in the final. A second-place finish in the 1962-63 Oberliga Nord earned them a spot in the inaugural Bundesliga season. Werder claimed their first German championship in 1964-65, finishing three points ahead of 1. FC Köln. They were runners-up in 1967-68, but then spent several years in the bottom half of the table.

Colours and crest

Werder Bremen's club colours are green and white, as referenced by the club song "Lebenslang Grün-Weiß". Home shirts have often varied between green and white, though a predominantly white home shirt has not been used since 2008–09. Exceptions include the 1971–73 period when the team adopted the city's red and white colours, and 1976 when blue was worn due to shirt sponsors Norda. The club's first badge, created in 1899, was a monogram spelling "FVW". It was replaced in 1902 by a green crest with the founding year 1899, "F.V.W." diagonally, and "Bremen". In 1911, the inscriptions were placed diagonally with black and green colours. An oval green crest with a white "W" appeared in 1924, replaced by a diamond shape in 1929 that forms the current crest, except for a 1970s spell when the Bremen coat of arms was used. A star above the crest on shirts represents the club's four Bundesliga titles.

Stadium

Werder Bremen has been playing its home matches on the same site since 1909, when a wooden grandstand was built there by the Allgemeinen Bremer Turn- und Sportverein. A new grandstand with changing rooms and a restaurant went up in 1926 for 1,250,000 Reichsmarks. The ground was first called the "ATSB-Kampfbahn" and hosted political rallies. In 1930 it was referred to as the "Weserstadion" for the first time. Five years later it became the "Bremer Kampfbahn," and for much of the following period it was used mainly by the Nazi Party, with little sport taking place. After World War II, only American sports like baseball and American football were played there, under the name "IKE-Stadium." In 1947 the venue reopened as a multi-use sports ground and was renamed the Weserstadion. After Werder won its first Bundesliga title in 1965, the corner stands got a second tier. In 1992 Bremen became the first German club to add skyboxes. The cinder track was partly removed in 2002, increasing capacity. A renovation from 2008 to 2011 added a photovoltaic façade, a new roof built over the old support structure, and both ends were rebuilt parallel to the pitch, eliminating the remaining athletics track. The stadium now holds 42,100.

Supporters and rivals

Werder Bremen’s biggest rivalry is with Hamburger SV, a clash called the Nordderby that reflects a centuries-old competition between the two northern cities themselves, which sit about a hundred kilometers apart. Another key opponent is Bayern Munich, a rivalry that grew from the 1980s when both clubs chased top honors. Since the mid-2000s, many Werder supporters have held a grudge against Schalke 04, who signed several Bremen players over the years, such as Aílton, Fabian Ernst, Mladen Krstajić, Oliver Reck, Frank Rost, and Franco Di Santo. The club has seven ultra groups: Wanderers-Bremen, The Infamous Youth, Caillera, L’Intesa Verde, HB Crew, Ultra Boys, and UltrA-Team Bremen. Friendly ties exist with FC St. Pauli, Cosenza, Austrian side SK Sturm Graz, and Israeli clubs Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Jerusalem. The team’s anthem, “Lebenslang Grün-Weiß” by Original Deutschmacher, plays before every home match. After each goal, a ship’s horn sounds, followed by “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers.