+++Green-Whites to kick-off the Bundesliga: It was announced on Wednesday that Werder will play in the first match of the Bundesliga’s 54th season. The Green-Whites will face Bayern München at the Allianz Arena in a clash between the north and the south on Friday, 26th August 2016 (20:30 CEST). The defending champions will enjoy home advantage as is tradition. It will be the first time that Bremen have kicked off a Bundesliga campaign on a Friday since the 2012/13 season. Four years ago SVW also travelled to take on the defending champions but that particular year it was Borussia Dortmund instead. That year they were beaten 2-1and Theodor Gebre Selassie made his debut as well as scoring his first goal in a Werder kit.+++
+++Yildrim moves to Fortuna: Özkan Yildrim has announced that he will be turning out for Fortuna Düsseldorf next season. He has been pulling on the green-white of Werder for thirteen years during his time in the youth teams and after his jump up to the first-team squad. The technically gifted midfielder has been plagued by injury but always fought his way back. Recently, the 23-year-old made his comeback after a year on the sidelines due to injury in the decisive match against Eintracht Frankfurt last season. The player said goodbye and thankyou to the fans over Instagram: My time at Werder has come to an end after 13 years. At this point, I would like to thank Werder and all the Werder fans – you have been amazing.” We wish you all the best in Düsseldorf and plenty of ‘fortune’ in the next chapter of your career.+++
+++Anticipation ahead of Lotte game: The first round of the DFB Cup will take place in seven weeks between the 19th and 22nd August. There is already overwhelming anticipation from the Green-Whites’ fans: “Our ticketing centre has already had around 10,500 requests for tickets so far for the match against the 3. Liga outfit. The online sale of tickets will begin in just under a month and it isn’t yet confirmed how many tickets are available to us yet,” said sales director Oliver Rau.+++