Good to Know
Werder Bremen are known for running things in
Werder Bremen are known for running things in a Hanseatic, solid way.
a Hanseatic, solid way. Less well known is that this was not always the case, and that the attempt to turn Werder into a top team of the 1970s ended in disaster.
For the 1971/72 season Werder not only changed
For the 1971/72 season Werder not only changed their shirt colors, they also wanted to become German champions again with a star-studded side.
their shirt colors, they also wanted to become German champions again with a star-studded side. Instead of the traditional green and white, the club ran out in so-called bacon-flag shirts, bearing the red and white of the city of Bremen and the Bremen key on the chest in place of the Werder W. Helped by the city and Bremen business circles, debts were forgiven and the club received a share of the advertising revenue from the Weserstadion.
Werder then went on a shopping spree, signing Willi Neuberger and Werner Acker Weist from Dortmund and Herbert Laumen from Moenchengladbach. What few people know is that they almost also signed Laumen's Gladbach teammate Guenter Netzer for that season. Player and club had already reached an agreement when Netzer made one condition: as in Gladbach, he wanted to publish the stadium magazine in Bremen too.
Werder refused to let him take over the Werder Echo, so Netzer stayed in Gladbach for the time being. The title bid collapsed. Werder finished only eleventh in 1971/72 and were mocked on all sides.
The new sponsors withdrew, and burdened by debt the club staggered toward the second division.
Werder in HSV shirts? Surely not. And yet
Werder in HSV shirts?
yes.
At half-time on November 27, 1971, in Hamburg's Volksparkstadion, legendary referee Walter Eschweiler judged the shirts of north German rivals HSV and Werder too similar in shade. Because Werder were playing the 1971/72 season not in green and white but in Bremen's city colors red and white, and because they had no proper alternative kit with them, Bremen had to play the second half of a 2:1 defeat in HSV shirts. It is hard to imagine greater humiliation.
Barely back in the Bundesliga, Werder Bremen suffered
Barely back in the Bundesliga, Werder Bremen suffered what remained, as of December 2019, the heaviest defeat of their Bundesliga era: a 9:2 loss away to Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 14 of 1981/82.
what remained, as of December 2019, the heaviest defeat of their Bundesliga era: a 9:2 loss away to Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 14 of 1981/82. Frankfurt's Ronny Borchers scored three times. Less well known is that a car accident contributed to the debacle. Werder reserve keeper Hermann Ruelander, standing in for regular number one Dieter Burdenski, had suffered a concussion in a road accident before the match and was seeing double.
Out of false ambition he told coach Otto Rehhagel nothing about it. It was a disastrous debut - and Ruelander never played in the Bundesliga again.
SVW — Financial Stability Score
Werder erholt sich langsam vom Abstiegs-Schock 2021, aber die Bilanz trägt noch die Narben: VQ 59,6%, EK-Quote nur 21,8%. Der Traditionsclub braucht 3-4 stabile BL-Jahre, um die Kennzahlen zu normalisieren. Ein erneuter Abstieg wäre bilanziell deutlich schmerzhafter als 2021.
Good to Know — Update 2020–2026
At the end of the 2020/21 season, the unthinkable happened in Bremen: Werder Bremen were relegated from the Bundesliga.
At the end of the 2020/21 season, the
At the end of the 2020/21 season, the unthinkable happened in Bremen: Werder Bremen were relegated from the Bundesliga.
unthinkable happened in Bremen: Werder Bremen were relegated from the Bundesliga. Since 1981, since the arrival of Kuno Klotzer, the club had been uninterrupted members of the top flight. Forty years defined by Otto Rehhagel’s trophies, the 1992 European triumph, the Double of 2004 and the near-miracle of Valencia in 2009. All of it ended on 22 May 2021 with a 2–0 defeat at Borussia Monchengladbach.
Seventeenth place. Relegation.
But Bremen showed character. Under coach Ole Werner,
But Bremen showed character.
the club won immediate promotion back as champions of the second division in 2021/22. Werner, a young and tactically astute coach, turned a shaken squad into a hungry promotion team. Clemens Fritz, the former captain and right-back, took over sporting responsibility as head of the professional department and became the face of the new era.
Frank Baumann, the long-time sporting director, had left after the relegation.
Since returning to the Bundesliga, Werder have established
Since returning to the Bundesliga, Werder have established themselves in mid-table — solid, but without the truly grand exclamation marks....
themselves in mid-table — solid, but without the truly grand exclamation marks.