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The bitter case of Werder Bremen

For decades, Werder Bremen was one of the top clubs in the Bundesliga, dueling several times with FC Bayern for the championship. Now the club is facing the second relegation of the club’s history.

Marco Bode and Dieter Eilts, Frank Baumann and Dieter Burdenski, Thomas Schaaf and Arnold Schütz. They all have one thing in common: legendary status at Werder Bremen. Whether 1965, 1988, 1993 or 2004: All four celebrated German championships with the Werderans. Successes that the current team is far from.

Werder Bremen started the season with Europa League ambitions four games before the end of the season in 17th place. The gap to Fortuna Düsseldorf and Relegation place 16 is three points, the goal difference of -33 is devastating. Bremen is threatened with the second relegation in the club’s history – a scenario unthinkable years ago.

Photo series with 16 pictures

The golden years under Schaaf and Allofs

Eleven years is the last big title for the north club from the Weser. In 2009, Werder defeated Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 in the cup final. Ten days earlier, coach Thomas Schaaf’s team faced Shakhtar Donetsk in the final of the UEFA Cup (predecessor of the Europa League).

It was the last glorious year for Werder – even if the season 2008/2009 in the league ended only on an unsatisfactory tenth place. This season marked a slip in an otherwise outstanding first Bundesliga decade in Werder Bremen in the 21st century.

Werder Bremen celebrates the cup victory in 2009: From left: Mesut Özil, Sebastian Boenisch, Hugo Almeida, Diego, Naldo and Claudio Pizarro. (Source: Hübner / imago images)

From 2002 to 2008 Werder always qualified for the European competition, from 2004 for the Champions League five years in a row. It was a golden year on the Weser with the winning of the championship in 2004 as a highlight.

“The zero years were so special because the team played continuously at a very good level. A lot of things went together. The scouting was also outstanding,” enthuses Werder fan and hip-hop journalist Niko Hüls. “Players have shaped an entire era. If you think about Diego and Mesut Özil together in a squad – unimaginable today.”

The successful Werder diamond

Werder impressed with exhilarating attacking football and, from 2006 to 2008, made the league’s most dangerous offensive three years in a row. The Werder diamond was not only anchored in the club emblem, but also a central component of the profitable tactical formation on the pitch.

The 4-4-2 with diamond shaped the Werder game of the zero years – led by master coach Schaaf and manager Allofs. Schaaf (from 1999 to 2013) and Allofs (from 1999 to 2012) were the guarantors of success.

The duo set standards in the league through solid management, a calm management style and the right knack for transfers. Ailton, Ivan Klasnic, Johan Micoud, Diego, Naldo, Torsten Frings, Mesut Özil, Per Mertesacker or Claudio Pizarro – they were all players in the Schaaf / Allofs era.

Werder Bremen: The traditional club celebrated its greatest successes in the past 20 years in the mid-nineties. (Source: t-online.de/Benjamin Springstrow)Werder Bremen: The traditional club celebrated its greatest successes in the past 20 years in the mid-nineties. (Source: t-online.de/Benjamin Springstrow)

But at the end of this era, the mistakes on the transfer market increased. Whether the Brazilians Wesley (7.5 million) and Carlos Alberto (7.8) or the Austrian Marko Arnautovic (6.2): ​​They all cost a lot of money at the time – but disappointed in the Weser and were able to meet the expectations placed on it not meet.

The club failed to build on the success of previous years, the costly incorrect purchases hit Werder enormously. The regular income from the Champions League also broke away. The demands that had grown in Bremen over the years due to the successful time could no longer be met.

“Werder was particularly successful at a time when there wasn’t quite as much money to be won in the Champions League compared to today. The squad was very bloated at the time, the ship was getting bigger – at some point, as were the successes there was less financial scope, “said Hüls, who makes an interesting comparison.

Niko Hüls: The hip-hop journalist has the Werder diamond tattooed on his arm. (Source: SV Werder Bremen)Niko Hüls: The hip-hop journalist has the Werder diamond tattooed on his arm. (Source: SV Werder Bremen)

“If the success, with six consecutive appearances in the Champions League, had happened in the 2010s, Werder would be a force. Then they would be today’s Borussia Dortmund.”

But instead of years of success, years of drought followed. Werder never got past eighth place in the 2010s and sank in the mediocre table. In 2013, just a few weeks after the Schaaf era ended, the Bremen team secured relegation shortly before the end of the season.

And the consistency in the coaching position was passé. The external trainer choice Robin Dutt (only 16 months in office) was followed by Viktor Skripnik (two years) and Alexander Nouri (one year), two less successful internal solutions. Kohfeldt was also such an internal solution. Fishing in your own pond – a not infrequent accusation against those responsible.

In 2015/2016, Werder already had one leg in the relegation. It was only Papy Djilobodji’s 1-0 win in the 88th minute on matchday 34 against Eintracht Frankfurt that saved the club from 16th place – a place in the table that Werder would have been relieved of in the current situation.

Despite Bavaria: Moderately difficult remaining program

It seems certain that Bremen will end the season with coach Kohfeldt. A stay of the 37-year-old on a relegation is also very likely. The possibility to separate would have been there several times.

Whether after the 0: 5 at home against Mainz 05 last winter or after the lifeless appearance after the Corona break against Leverkusen (1: 4). It was the “conviction”, as sports director Frank Baumann emphasized several times, that let him hold on to Kohfeldt.

Maximilian Eggestein (left) and Philipp Bargfrede: The Werder professionals desperately raise their arms. (Source: imago images / pool photo)Maximilian Eggestein (left) and Philipp Bargfrede: The Werder professionals desperately raise their arms. (Source: Poolfoto / imago images)

Werder’s remaining program in the league can be classified as feasible. Except for the duel against Bayern Munich, the north club will still face SC Paderborn, Mainz 05 and 1. FC Köln. Two direct competitors and a club that is unlikely to be involved in anything on the last matchday.

Werder threatens to deteriorate to the elevator team?

Either way: For Werder, football is about survival – and maybe more. The current season shows very clearly how difficult supposed first division clubs in the second division are.

Stuttgart and HSV, for the second year in a row in the second division, are struggling against clubs like Kiel, Osnabrück or Wiesbaden. An ascent is anything but safe. Hannover 96, also a long-time Bundesliga club, will miss the direct return.

Fate to deteriorate to the elevator team, or worse, to become a regular in the second division, could also threaten the Bremen team. Times as experienced by Eilts, Burdenski or Ailton would be a long way off.

“Werder Bremen doesn’t have to be number two, but it has to be an integral part of the league,” says Hüls. “If everything goes perfectly with Bremen, they could reach the level of Borussia Mönchengladbach. But if it doesn’t work, they will descend.”

A descent would also affect the history books. After HSV’s second consecutive year in the second division, Werder Bremen took first place in the Bundesliga’s all-time table. If they descend, the record would go to Munich. For this reason alone, one or the other of Germany’s fingers crossed for the relegation class.

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