1945-1963

Re-establishment – From Oberliga to Bundesliga

During the Nazi regime, the club celebrated its first successes such as the Gaumeister titles in 1934, ’36, ’37, and ’42. After play was halted shortly before the end of World War II, the club was dissolved on November 10, 1945. Following a merger of clubs banned under the Nazis—TV Vorwärts and Freie Schwimmer 1910—the club was newly founded as TuS Werder 1945.

A year later, the club was renamed SV Grün-Weiß 1899 Bremen. However, the occupying allied authorities opposed clubs that had existed during the Nazi era, so the name had to change again. The “1899” was too closely linked to the club’s wartime name, so it became SV Werder Bremen. That same year, competition resumed and a championship was immediately celebrated with victory in the city championship.

Werder, the “Sphinx of the North”

From the 1947/48 season, Werder played in the Oberliga Nord. Typical of the team’s postwar years was its tendency to defeat allegedly stronger teams but also occasionally lose to weaker sides. For this reason, Werder earned the nickname “Sphinx of the North.” Werder didn’t need to worry about being northern Germany’s number one; Hamburger SV held that spot, securing 15 Oberliga Nord titles prior to the Bundesliga’s founding. With Bremer SV and Bremerhaven 93, Werder also fought for Bremen’s number one status—something that truly became clear only from 1958 onward, with the hiring of former national player Georg Knöpfle as coach. Players like Helmut Schimeczek and Willi Schröder were now drawn to the Weser instead of the Elbe.

Between 1959 and 1963, SV Werder Bremen was runner-up in the Oberliga Nord every season and eventually qualified, alongside Eintracht Braunschweig and Hamburger SV, for the new football Bundesliga, launched in the 1963/64 season. Thus, Werder became a founding member of one of the world’s top leagues.

The “Texas Eleven” Wins the DFB Cup

Many Werder team members of the postwar years worked for an American tobacco company, as the earnings cap of 320 Marks at the time was not sufficient for a living. This earned Werder’s footballers the nickname “Texas Eleven.”

These early postwar years also saw Werder Bremen’s first DFB Cup victory in 1961. With players like “Sepp” Piontek and “Pico” Schütz, the club claimed a 2:0 win in the final over 1.FC Kaiserslautern at the Glückauf-Kampfbahn in Gelsenkirchen, with goals from Schröder and Jagielski.