Werder had the second-youngest squad in the league in 2021/22, with an average age of 24.2 years. Despite that, the success of the team was down in large part to the veterans in the team: Aged 33, Christian Groß is the oldest player to have worn the green and white jersey this season, but his 89.77% pass success rate is the best of any Werderaner this campaign. The defender collected an average of 2.07 points per game in his 27 appearances this season – the next-oldest player, Ömer Toprak, is the only man to better this average, picking up a fantastic 2.23 ppg.
This wealth of experience has transferred over to a player half of Toprak and Groß’ age – Fabio Chiarodia. His substitute appearance against Jahn Regensburg in December, when he was just 16 years and 188 days old, made him the youngest player ever to make an appearance for Werder’s first team. Chiarodia has now been included in the matchday squad a total of seven times, an experience shared by 17-year-old goalkeeper Mio Backhaus, who took a place among the substitutes for the match against SV Sandhausen. Werder’s quickest player was also a youngster – 20-year-old Eren Dinkci recorded a top speed of 35.27 km/h this season.
