During his time with Arminia Bielefeld, Pieper achieved promotion to the Bundesliga in 2020 before witnessing his new club achieve the same feat two years later. “I saw the celebrations and thought to myself: 'Okay, this is the right decision,' and I signed shortly after that. You could see all the greatness and momentum, that makes this club what it is – how everything is supported from the outside by the fans. It was nice to see,” said the defender. Pieper hopes the team can take the momentum of promotion to the Bundesliga with them. “You can tell the boys are in great spirits and everyone wants to be playing in the Bundesliga. It's important that we keep that going for as long as we can. Achieving promotion from the second division and saying 'we're all fired up to be in the Bundesliga’ can really get you going,” said Pieper, speaking on his experience in Bielefeld.
Pieper's goal for the new season is “to bring a footballing identity onto the pitch that allows us to be successful in the long term”. In doing so, Pieper says that the team needs to try to get the maximum points return from every game. “I've realised that against every opponent, so no matter how big they are on paper, there is always a chance to pick up points,” said the 24-year-old. “Of course we'll all be happy if we can stay up. Nevertheless, you don't necessarily have to aim low or count yourself out of reaching the top.” In order to contribute to these goals, Pieper already began individual training during the summer break. “The summer break was relatively long at five weeks, so I told myself I wanted to come here to Bremen in top shape.”
