Club Chronicle

From foundation of the club up to the end of the First World War

SV Werder owes its foundation to good fortune. In 1898 some students from a vocational high school in Bremen accepted an athletic equipment as their prize for winning a competition. They received a sport article, which was in some measure still unknown during those times: - a soccer ball. The students headed for Stadtwerder, an area near the Weser River to play with their award and figure out how exactly a game of football would turn out for them.

Much to their surprise, football proved to be a sport of high-powered action fun and game. They wanted to create something more out of the sport, so on 4 February 1899 at the veranda of a restaurant called "Zum Kuhhirten", a new sport club called "Football Club 'Werder' Bremen of 1899" was founded. It was coined after the name of the location where they had initially played together. The name "Werder" means river island; land created by soil deposits of water from a river, as exemplified by the Stadtwerder area across the Weser Stadium's current address.

Although other soccer teams had been in existence prior to Werder's foundation, football was still in its founding years. So it took a few more months before the Werderanians made their premier appearance as challengers in a football match. They were victorious but had struggled intensely for the lean win. From this stage forward, the advancement of the club mounted a superlatively strong course that launched the driving force of soccer in Bremen, in general.

In 1903 FV Werder captured the Bremen Championship for the first time with a reap of titles in all of the three existing leagues. In 1905, it became the first club in Bremen whose founding members ventured to charge spectators admission price and fenced-in the playing field. 1907 was the year when they challenged VFB Leipzig, the defending champion of the previous year, but were beaten by a narrow margin. They invited a professional British team in Pentecost 1909 and engaged the opponents in a raging confrontation that led to an unprecedented football sensation. In 1912 saw FV Werder as the sole Bremen club that qualified to compete in the newly established North German Football League.

Even during the time of the First World War, the Werderanians actively maintained their sporting activities. They clinched the Bremen championship title yet again in 1916 despite many difficulties and, at the close of the First World War, FV Werder endured as opposed to other clubs which perished after the war.

The survival of the club was mainly due to the great efforts of Hans Jarburg who was its first Manager after the war. The Lutter Family, particularly Joseph, ensured that the club was victorious in all competition. Assisting them were Hermann Schlengemann, Otto Trennert and of course many others.

There were other setbacks as well. Many of the founding members died in the First World War. And during construction of its home stadium designed with a modest grandstand in Bremen's Huckelriede district, the club almost crumbled to pieces after plunging into debts.
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Period of the Weimar Republic and National Socialism

Right after the end of the First World War, the Werderanians set their hands and did everything in their power to restructure the club. The former soccer club of the first two decades was transformed into a larger general sports club created by utilizing resources in its possession and not through mergers, which was the trend during this period.

The name was changed in 1920 to "Sport Club 'Werder' Bremen of 1899", followed by the creation of various departments: Tennis, Chess, Cricket, Athletic Sports and many others. The number of members climbed to over 1000 from to time to time, in comparison to a maximum of 300 members before the First World War.

But football remained the most important sport, in fact, a revolutionary event happened around this period: In 1922, the club SV Werder was the first in Bremen to hire and pay for a professional coach - Franz Konya from Hungary. His work was valuable to the club even if he didn't stay long. SV Werder consistently remained among the best teams in the league during the Weimar Republic and only the dominance of the Hamburg clubs halted it from winning the championship.

SV Werder's First Team was adequately in fine shape. For instance in 1924, it proved robust when it played hardball against the multiple-champion 1.FC Nuremberg losing only by 0:1 in a very tight match; or in 1927 against another multiple-champion HSV which was forced to settle a tied score of 0:0. The year 1928 showed SV Werder losing to an American Olympic team in a close match that ended 2:3 but beating the Olympic hopefuls from Estland with a 2:1 end score.

The overall competition during those times was carried out by amateur players. However when it became clearer that football was going to be based on a professionalized sport and the founding of a "Reichsliga" was coming to reality, SV Werder realized the consequence and reinforced its 1st team with a number of national players. So in 1934, the selection for the German national team for the Soccer World Cup of that year included, for the first time, an SV Werder player, Matthias Heidemann. During the 30's and 40's, SV Werder continued to regularly compete among the best teams in German football.

Behind these victories stood an exceptionally talented coach by the name of Walter Hollstein. Others who also contributed to its success were players whose names are still popular up to the present: Ziolkewitz, Tibulski, Scharmann, Hundt and many more. A few players came to the team because they were stationed in Bremen as soldiers. The first national success was clinched by the team during these periods of National Socialism and the Second World War. Judging from the club's standing in the Cup Competition and in the National Championship, it indicates that the highest victories ever achieved happened during the war year of 1942. Such being the case, this period was rated as the most successful period the club ever experienced at that time.

Owing to the political conditions in existence during those years, the club's leadership mirrored an identical structural image. It had a figurehead that was an all-powerful ruler instead of a Board of Directors. The collapse of the 1000-year Reich similarly flashed a message that read "game over" for SV Werder's timeline - but only momentarily.
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The Post-war Period and Football in the Upper League

The Werderanians survived the war and regardless of all adversities in the aftermath, managed to reconstitute SV Werder within just one year. They secretly met among the rubbles of a devastated Bremen. Members such as Hansi Wolff, who would later become the next club president, Abbi Drewes, Richard Oßenkop and others, aspired to revive the sport activities of Werder as quickly as possible. However they were not allowed to engage in such actions because the post-war governing power structure forbade the resumption of clubs, which existed and operated under fascist Germany during the period of National Socialism.

They had to consider a circuitous alternative to rebuild their club. So on 10 November 1945, they all participated in founding a sports community called "Gymnastics and Sport Club Werder of 1945". They then had to rename it to "Sport Club Green White of 1899", but a month later, the Werderanians were permitted to use their original name, the term that had carried the rich tradition of the club.

This age of new beginnings was, at the same time, the only phase in the history of the club that a second sport emerged on equal footing with football: Athletic Sports. The sport, particularly in the women's division, created athletic sensations due to the multitude of championship titles and records captured by the club. Marga Petersen won the German Championship in the 100m event while the 4x100m relay was won by Peterson, Helga Kluge, Hannelore Mikos and Lena Stumpf. The men's division consisted of Karl Kluge, Fritz Wever, Kurt Bonah and many others.

Football was played in a divided regional Upper League after the war. Werder competed against teams such as St Pauli, Oldenburg, Hanover 96, VFL Osnabrück and others. Two opponents guaranteed a fully packed Weser stadium: the HSV fortified by its well-known players was a strong favourite, and BSV because it also played in the North Upper league. These encounters paved the way for real Bremer Derbys during those times.

The Bremer squad was made up of players such as Richard Ackerschott, Ddragomir Ilic, Willi Schröder, Horst Gemhard, Max Lorenz, Pico Schütz, Horst Stange.

All the players were not professional athletes but were contractual sportsmen. They were allowed to earn up to 320 DM as players, in addition to their other main professions. Since most of the players worked in the Bremen tobacco factory called Brinkmann, Werder's First Team was named "Texas 11" after a popular cigarette brand of the same label.

Although Werder competed among the leading teams in the Upper League, its performance was rather unpredictable. They often prevailed over stronger teams but were vanquished by weaker clubs. Werder became to be known as the "Sphinx of the North". But despite all these, Werder remained a sure candidate to compete in the Bundesliga, which was introduced in the 60's.

The first real huge victory was scored during the time of the Upper League when the DFB Cup was brought home to the Weser in 1961. On 13 September 1961, Werder defeated 1.FC Kaiserslautern in the competition's finale with 2:0 victory. Goals were shot by Schröder and Jagelski in the match, which was played at the "Glückauf-Kampfbahn" in Gelsenkirchen.

Having gained the Cup title, Werder made its debut in the European League of Cup Winners, however, was eliminated in the third round when it lost against Atletico Madrid.
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The Bundesliga - The Champion descends

The decision of the German Football Association (DFB) to implement the Bundesliga on 28 September 1962 put an end to the concept that first-class, international, competitive football could be accomplished by employing amateur players. Everything prior to this major decision, including the hiring of players under contractual basis during the Upper League period were only compromises. Further, those arrangements from the mid-20's proved to be ineffective and inefficient. Since 1930 all other attempts to use professional players, had failed in the face of the specialities surrounding German sport and political history.

Restrictions were imposed on professional players in the Bundesliga as well. They were regarded as license player limited to earn a maximum income of DM 1200 and the player's transfer fee was similarly restricted.

And where did Werder stand in the new league? The first season saw Werder as the eternal second best of the Northern Upper League, ranked 10th out of 16 teams, a squad that displayed little improvement in comparison to its other Upper League contingents. But the second season in 1964 when Horst-Dieter Höttges, Helmut Steinmann and Klaus Matischak joined the squad, it produced an immediate sensation: In the history of the Bundesliga, Werder became the 2nd club, after 1.FC Cologne, to capture the league's championship title.

Willi Multhaupt who was coach of Werder's champion team at this juncture transferred to Dortmund. It appeared that when he left, he also took away all future victories and brought them to his new club. Under the leadership of his successor Günter Brocker, Werder slipped down to rank 16th in the early rounds of the league in season 1967/68.

Brocker had to leave and with the arrival of his successor, Fritz Langner, Werder remarkably worked through the chart ranking until it reached the 2nd highest position thus ending the season with the Vice-Champion title.

The following years witnessed Werder's descent in ranking and Werder was soon approaching second league relegation. When Fritz Langner resigned due to health reasons, a series of missed chances, tough luck and simply poor match performances certainly led to nothing favourable for the team.

Werder was in urgent need of emergency brigades who could bring the spread of a burning crisis under control and eventually revitalize the club. But a chain of coach successions often carried out under pressure resulted only to a trickle of success, even the addition of new players could not inject the strength it needed.

Under these circumstances, Werder decided to take a risk that involved a major financial outlay at the start of the season 1971/72. Similar to the onset of 1930 Werder prepared to make huge purchases to acquire top-brass players in the league. Back then in1972, Mönchengaldbach was the site where these talents flourished, so Werder went there and snapped them all.

Except for Günther Netzer, a line-up of Mönchengladbach's forwards set foot in Bremen, then other multi-talented players followed in their footsteps. At this time Werder's cadre was no longer called "Texas 11" but the "Millionaires". A roster that boasted skilled and talented star footballers however failed to develop into an exceptional team. Its performance, at best, was only good enough for rank 11th in the league.

Seasons in the mid-70's showed Werder constantly struggling to prevent its further descent to second league territory and even reached a critical phase upon which its Bundesliga licence was threatened to be lost. It was mainly through the confirmation from the City of Bremen to commence work on Weser Stadium's expansion that relieved Werder from its predicament.

These were also the years when permanent bringers of victories pulled out from the squad: Pico Schütz, Günter Bernard und Iron Foot Horst-Dieter Höttges to name a few.

Through the passage of time punctuated by several intervening episodes, Werder's ranking continued to pursue a downward course until finally at the end of season 1979/80 discovered itself present in the realm of the second league, relegated to play against teams of the northern group.
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Era of Rehhagel

Among the emergency brigades who came to prevent Werder's descent during the mid 70's was Otto Rehhagel. He was head coach in spring 1976 and quickly delivered success to the team even if only for a short time. He had to leave Werder because he was acquired only as a transitional mentor.

The second league in season 1980/81 bore witness to the rise of the glorious Werder / Rehhagel era, unprecedented in its duration, unparalleled in its victories. He rejoined Werder by chance in spring 1981 to substitute Head Coach Kuno Klötzer who had been injured in a car accident. Werder needed a replacement because it was resolved not to endanger its chances of promotion to the Bundesliga.

Mission Complete: Werder was back in the Bundesliga! Moreover, for the following 1982/83 season, Werder welcomed the arrival of young players who would soon contribute immensely to its victories in the coming years. These talented footballers were Frank Neubarth, Rudi Völler and Wolfgang Sidka.

After its takeoff from second league runway, Werder quickly soared up high in the Bundesliga and gained Vice-Champion title in season 1982/83. It ended this year where it would also end a number of other seasons to come - on the balcony of the City Hall of Bremen to celebrate with the people the honour and glory of a championship title. It was only Vice-Champion title for that moment but success tasted just as sweet as the championship.

Having reached second highest position in the previous season provided them passports to international leagues. Aside from Bundesliga and DFB Cup, international competitions keenly observed how Werder had grown stronger and better in the course of time.

In the beginning, Werder got ousted in preliminary rounds of international competition although it had demonstrated excellent games. Then came matches, which were referred to as "Wonder of the Weser." These were awesome and triumphant matches that deserve to carry absolute cult status up to the present times.

The 1st wonder was witnessed in a return match against Spartak Moscow. Werder was defeated in the first game, end score was 1:4 in favour of the opposing team. Spartak Moscow came to the Weser for the return match and was, of course, greeted as a strong favourite. However they were quickly overpowered by the Bremen squad and were trailing behind 3:0. After 90 minutes, the same end result of 1:4, but this time in favour of Bremen. In the extension round, Bremen won by a score of 6:2 and Moscow was consequently catapulted out of the competition.

Similar games that characterize the "Wonder of the Weser" phenomenon were displayed in matches against the GDR Champion Dynamo Berlin, the 5:1 victory over SSC Naples with Diego Maradona and the 5:3 triumph against RSC Anderlecht.

Werder's performance, which had developed brilliantly over time, was finally suited to be honoured by a championship title. On 6 May 1992, it vanquished the strongly favoured AS Monaco thereby capturing the title European Cup Champion 1992. The current Sports Director Klaus Allofs and Wynton Ruffer scored the goals of the game that ended with a 2:0 result.

Groundwork for this international acclaim had been laid-out in the Bundesliga and the DFB Cup where Werder had displayed remarkable performances that earned them a series of championship titles. The year 1988 showed Werder celebrating the championship title for the 2nd time, only two years after the famous failed Kutzop-penalty kick, which decided whether Werder would come out as champion or just vice-champion of 1986.

Three years in a row, Werder competed as finalists in DFB Cup games of 1989,1990 and 1991. In 1991 they succeeded in bringing home the gold cup when they prevailed over 1.FC Cologne in the penalty shooting round. Another DFB Cup celebration was added to its growing list of honours when Werder defeated Rot Weiß Essen in 1994. In between DFB Cup titles, Werder clinched the Bundesliga Championship honours for the 3rd time when it finished triumphantly from a tight duel against FC Bayern Munich in 1993.

This record of awesome achievement exposed to view that SV Werder without Otto Rehhagel is unimaginable. But although Otto Rehhagel was the only head coach in the Bundesliga who was granted a permanent and indefinite contract by a club, he decided to part with club after 14 years. He bid farewell to Werder on 10 June 1995.

Otto Rehhagel's departure wasn't easy, neither for Werder nor for Rehhagel himself. For many, it was hard to understand why of all places in the Bundesliga had he chosen to join that big competitor in Munich. Rune Bratseth commented in an interview: "I wish Otto Rehhagel a lot of luck and that SV Werder remains ahead of Bayern always".

Aad de Mos was hired as replacement for Rehhagel. His international reputation was highly regarded and considered valuable for the future success of the team. But his coaching stint in Bremen was short-lived. His successor Dixie Dörner achieved minimal success and even brought the dread of second league relegation back to the Weser Stadium. It was the arrival of another successor, Wolfgang Sidka that brought back a taste of the glory from the Rehhagel Era. In season 1997/1998 he moved Werder on its track to speed-up from bottom of the list all the way up to qualify for the UEFA Cup once again.

The following season showed Werder playing at its poorest performance level that had never been seen before in the history of the club. As a matter of course Wolfgang Sidka had to be replaced. Felix Magath, known in the soccer circuit as the "Quälix" "Tormentor" of tough guys, was made responsible for bringing back success to the club. Under his command came a mere replay of a previous disappointment that had never ever been experienced in the team's centennial existence.

Although Felix Magath remained coach, the search for a Rehhagel successor had not reached its end. Success was ruled-out altogether so in 1999, a transitional solution was made to hire a successor internally. Thomas Schaaf, a football player who had played during Otto Rehhagel's time and lived through all its great spectacles, was promoted as head coach for the team until 30 June 1999. This arrangement allowed the club to have the time it needed to find the right coach.

However in the charge of Thomas Schaaf, Werder was startlingly back on its feet. On 12 June 1999, Werder won the DFB Cup Championship against FC Bayern Munich through penalty shooting that ended 6:5. Surely everyone remembers Stefan Effenberg's bungle in the penalty kick…
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With Thomas Schaaf to new achievements

The decision to promote Thomas Schaaf to head coach also ushered in the opportunity to restructure the general leadership and decision-making framework at SV Werder. A few members who have been with the club since the Rehhagel era continue to serve on the Board of Directors. Since 1970, Dr. Franz Böhmert and Klaus-Dieter Fischer have held the leadership at SV Werder. Together with Manfred Müller and former manager Willi Lemke, they have collaborated the success of the team and revelled in the great achievements of the team.

Werder realized that after the Rehhagel era, all previous commercial arrangements and conditions were no longer feasible at this juncture.

The business environment of SV Werder had not indicated any increase that would sustain these circumstances. How then could a place such as Bremen keep pace with the big shots in the Bundesliga?

SV Werder's decision-making structure was "professionalized" so to speak. Since July 1999 a Board of Directors assigned with defined responsibilities has taken its position at the helm of the club. The chairmanship is currently held by Jürgen L Born, who, at the same time, oversees the finances. Reporting to his office are: Klaus Allofs who is responsible for professional football, Klaus-Dieter Fisher in charge of Amateur department and Bundesliga young hopefuls, and Manfred Müller in charge of Marketing. Over and above them is a Supervisory Board, which is headed by Dr. Böhmert.

A large area of the scope of responsibility for Klaus Allofs and Manfred Müller has seen further essential modifications. The position of an all-round manager was abolished. Willi Lemke was the last all-round Werder manager until his appointment as Minister of Education in the state of Bremen.

Thomas Schaaf has continued his job as Head Coach. Looking back on those days when he was hired as a temporary coach, it is remarkable how he has manoeuvred the team back to brilliance and how he has emerged in the Bundesliga as a highly recognized and successful coach. His list of achievements as a Werder coach does not only include the DFB Cup 1999 championship title but also Werder's return as finalist in the following DFB season where FC Bayern Munich won and Werder settled for Vice-Champion title.

Moreover, Werder made its comeback in the UEFA Cup reaching the quarterfinals, the best result that has been attained after a long spell.

After over a hundred years of history, where does the club stand now and what lies ahead for SV Werder? The present has etched the hallmarks of radical changes that will bring forward reasonable optimism for the future. The club's management structure has been professionalized, Weser Stadium will be renovated, and its Bundesliga squad consists of players who are the youngest in the entire league.
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