Werder Bremen
|
|
Template:Football club infobox Sportverein Werder Bremen is one of the major soccer clubs playing in the German Premier League, the Bundesliga. Its stadium is the 42,266 capacity Weserstadion named after the River Weser in Bremen.
History
Werder Bremen was founded on February 4th, 1899. After numerous regional successes and cup wins, its first nationwide success was the German Cup 1961. When the Bundesliga was formed in 1962, Bremen was the champion in its second season, 1965.
It left the Premier League in 1980 for one season, and returned with its new coach Otto Rehhagel to a string of successes: runner up in 1983 and 1986, and another champion title in 1988. In the German Cup, Werder went to the Finals in 1989 and 1990, and finally won it in 1991. In the subsequent European Cup Winners' Cup, Bremen was also successful and won it 1992. 1993 Werder became champion for a third time. The German cup was won again in the following year, 1994.
Current events
In 1995, Rehhagel left the team to coach Bayern München, and that caused a crisis was not resolved until 1999 by freshly appointed coach Thomas Schaaf; Bremen won against Bayern München in the cup final. In the years afterward it stabilized itself in the top half of the league.
In 2004, five years after Thomas Schaaf took over, Werder Bremen won its fourth Championship, establishing a 9 point lead with 2 matches left in an away game at arch-rival Bayern München, winning 3:1 (3:0). They also defeated Second Bundesliga side Alemannia Aachen 3:2 in the German Cup final, winning the cup for the fifth time. Only four teams in Germany have ever achieved being Champions and Cup Winner in one season (a Double).
Having qualified for the UEFA Champions League, Werder defeated the current Spanish champion Valencia CF 2:0 (0:0) to advance into the round of 16, where they crashed out against French champions Olympique Lyonnais losing 2:10 on aggregate.
At the end of the 2004/05 season, Werder was able to secure a chance to qualify for the 2005/06 Champion's League by finishing third in the Bundesliga; a remarkable feat, given their long, injury-prone and game-intensive season.
Famous players
- Horst-Dieter Höttges
- Rudi Völler
- Frank Neubarth
- Rune Bratseth
- Mario Basler
- Andreas Herzog
- Marco Bode
- Claudio Pizarro
- Ailton
- Johan Micoud
- Angelos Charisteas
- Miroslav Klose
- Paul Stalteri
Famous coaches
External links
- Official club website (available in German, English and Chinese) (http://www.werder-online.de/)
Template:1. Bundesligade:SV Werder Bremen fr:Werder de Brême sv:SV Werder Bremen