SV Werder Bremen

Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (German pronunciation: [ɛs faʊ̯ ˌvɛʁdɐ ˈbʁeːmən] ^ⓘ), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association football team, who compete in the Bundesliga, the first tier of the German football league system. Bremen share the record for most seasons played in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, and are ranked third in the all-time Bundesliga table, only behind Bayern and Borussia Dortmund.

Werder have been German champions four times, have won the DFB-Pokal six times, the DFL-Ligapokal once, the DFL-Supercup thrice, and the European Cup Winners' Cup once. The team's first major trophy was the 1960–61 DFB-Pokal; they last won the cup in 2008–09. Bremen's first German championship came in 1964–65, and their latest in 2003–04, when they won the double. In European football, Werder won the 1991–92 European Cup Winners' Cup, and were runners-up in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup.

Bremen have played at the Weserstadion since 1909. The club shares a rivalry with fellow northern German club Hamburger SV, known as the Nordderby (lit. 'North derby'). In April 2022, Werder had over 40,000 members.

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.

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.