Werder Bremen III

1899–1970

On 4 February 1899, FV Werder Bremen was founded by a group of 16-year-old students who had won a football in a tug of war tournament. The name "Werder" is the German word for "river peninsula", alluding to the riverside field on which the team played their first football matches. On 10 September 1899, Werder won their first match 1–0, against ASC 1898 Bremen. In 1900, the club was one of the founder members of the German Football Association (DFB). Werder then had some early success, winning several local championships. In 1903, all three of their teams won their local leagues. Due to the club's popularity, Werder became the first side in the city to charge entry fees for home matches.

After the First World War, the club adopted other sports, such as athletics, baseball, chess, cricket, and tennis. On 19 January 1920, the club took on their current name: Sportverein Werder Bremen. In 1922, it became the first club in Bremen to hire a professional coach, the Hungarian Ferenc Kónya. Werder made regular appearances in the play-offs of the Northern German football championship during the 1920s and early 1930s, but did not win any titles. In the mid-1930s, striker Matthias Heidemann became the club's first international.

Werder won the Gauliga Niedersachsen in 1933–34, and again in 1935–36, 1936–37, and 1941–42. By winning the Gauliga, the team qualified for the national championship play-offs; Bremen's best result was a quarter-final place in 1942. As professionalism was not permitted in German football, several Werder players worked at the nearby Brinkmann tobacco factory; the side were subsequently nicknamed "Texas 11" after one of the company's cigarette brands.

Between the end of the Second World War and the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, the club was recognised as one of the top two teams in northern Germany, along with Hamburger SV. In 1960–61, Werder won their first DFB-Pokal, defeating 1. FC Kaiserslautern 2–0 in the final. The team consisted of future international Sepp Piontek, former international Willi Schröder, and Arnold Schütz, among others. A second place in the 1962–63 Oberliga Nord, behind Hamburger SV, ensured Werder's place in the 1963–64 Bundesliga, the competition's inaugural season. Werder won their first German championship in 1964–65, finishing three points ahead of 1. FC Köln. One of the team's key players was German international and defender Horst-Dieter Höttges. Werder finished runners-up in 1967–68; in the following years, they languished in the bottom half of the table.

1970–2000

In April 1971, during an away match at Borussia Mönchengladbach, the hosts' striker Herbert Laumen fell in Werder's goal net after a collision with Bremen goalkeeper Günter Bernard. The right goalpost snapped as a result of the impact, bringing the goal down, which could not be repaired nor replaced. The referee abandoned the game with a scoreline of 1–1; the DFB later awarded the win to Werder. As a result of signing several expensive players, Bremen were nicknamed "Millionenelf". The team's form did not improve, and in 1979–80, Werder were relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time.

The team won the 1980–81 2. Bundesliga Nord title and were promoted back to the Bundesliga. Manager Otto Rehhagel was appointed in April 1981; under his guidance, Werder were Bundesliga runners-up in 1982–83, 1984–85 and 1985–86. In 1983 and 1986, the side lost the title on goal difference. During the latter season, Werder hosted Bayern Munich in the penultimate match; Bremen needed to win to secure the title. In the last minutes of the game, Werder were awarded a penalty kick, which Michael Kutzop missed; the match ended goalless. Bayern won their last match, but Werder lost 2–1 to VfB Stuttgart, meaning that Bayern won the title. Werder won their second Bundesliga title two years later, in 1987–88, only conceding a then-record 22 goals. They also reached the semi-final of that year's UEFA Cup. In the third round of the 1989–90 UEFA Cup, Bremen defeated defending champions Napoli 8–3 on aggregate, after winning 5–1 at home (Diego Maradona was one of the Napoli players).

Werder reached the DFB-Pokal final in 1989 and 1990, and were victorious in 1991. They also won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1991–92, beating AS Monaco 2–0 in the final. In 1992–93, the team won their third Bundesliga title, and won their third DFB-Pokal in 1994. Bremen became the first German club to reach the group stage of the newly rebranded UEFA Champions League in 1993–94. During that season, Werder trailed Belgian club Anderlecht 3–0 after 66 minutes. The side turned the game around and won 5–3; it is hailed as an example of the "Wunder von der Weser" (English: "Wonder of the Weser"). In this period, Werder had numerous internationals, including Mario Basler, Marco Bode, Andreas Herzog, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Wynton Rufer, and Rudi Völler.

Bremen finished runners-up in the 1994–95 Bundesliga; at the end of the season, after a then-national record 14-year stint at Werder, Rehhagel left the club for Bayern Munich. Rehhagel, Bremen's most successful manager, had employed a "controlled offensive" style of play, and worked on a tight budget during his reign. His successors (Aad de Mos, Dixie Dörner, Wolfgang Sidka, and Felix Magath) did not win any major honours. In May 1999, former Werder defender, and youth coach Thomas Schaaf took over. He kept the team in the Bundesliga, and won the DFB-Pokal only weeks later, defeating Bayern on penalties.

2000–present

Werder's league performance stabilized during the following seasons, regularly finishing in the upper half of the table. In 2003–04, Bremen won both the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal, claiming the double for the first time, becoming the third club in Bundesliga history to achieve this feat. The team also regularly qualified for the Champions League during the 2000s. In the last match of the 2005–06 Bundesliga season, Werder won 2–1 at arch-rivals Hamburger SV to qualify for the Champions League, instead of Hamburg. Bremen reached the semi-finals of the 2006–07 UEFA Cup, in which they were eliminated by Spanish club RCD Espanyol. In 2008–09, the team reached the UEFA Cup final—losing 2–1 against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk after extra time—and the DFB-Pokal final, defeating Bayer Leverkusen by a scoreline of 1–0. In April and May 2009, Werder had played Hamburg four times in 19 days; once in the Bundesliga, twice in the semi-final of the UEFA Cup, and in the semi-final of the DFB-Pokal. Bremen defeated Hamburg 2–0 in the Bundesliga, and eliminated them from the DFB-Pokal and the UEFA Cup.

During this period, Werder had several players who were sold for large transfer fees, including Diego, Torsten Frings, Miroslav Klose, Mesut Özil, and Claudio Pizarro. In October 2010, Pizarro became the then-record foreign goalscorer in Bundesliga history. In 2013, Schaaf left the club by mutual consent after a 14th-place finish in the Bundesliga. In 2019–20, Bremen beat Köln 6–1 on the last matchday to finish in 16th place, overtaking Fortuna Düsseldorf; however, Bremen had to play the promotion-relegation play-offs against 1. FC Heidenheim to avoid relegation. The tie ended 2–2 on aggregate, with Werder winning on the away goals rule, and avoiding relegation. Bremen finished 17th the following season, and were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time since 1979–80. The team finished runners-up in the 2021–22 2. Bundesliga and won promotion back to the Bundesliga after one season.