Watching a soccer match at the famous Weserstadion in Bremen is always one of the highlights for our exchange students. This year, a special opportunity came along, as the German women’s national team played in Bremen. It was only the second time the team had ever played at the Weserstadion. Our full-year student Theo Kaster shares his experience of attending the match.
On October 13th, the Dickinson students and I had the opportunity to watch a football game between the German Women’s National team and the Japanese Women’s National team. Before football matches, you can always see large groups of fans walking together towards the stadium. Before Werder Bremen games, streets, cafes, and pubs become oceans of the green and white colors of the team’s kit, or rather in the case of this match, the yellow, red, and black colors of the German National Team’s uniform.
We had good seats and had a close view of the entire football pitch. There were over 20,000 total fans in attendance. After both teams walked out, were introduced, and had their respective national anthems played, the match commenced. The Japanese team scored an impressive early goal in the 14’ minute. The Japanese team started out very strong, making it nerve-racking for the Germany fans. In the 27’ minute, Germany equalized with a great goal from Linda Dallmann. The game went into halftime with the score still even, and everyone was uncertain about what would happen in the following half. Many of us used halftime to go to concession stands and get beers, pretzels, hot dogs, etc. In the 73’ minute, a goal was scored by Klara Bühl, giving Germany a 2-1 lead. Both teams fought hard until the end, and Germany came out victorious.
Football is undoubtedly a large part of German culture. From the pregame rituals of walking through the streets representing your team’s jersey, to the atmosphere during the match, enlivened through chants, horns and other noise-making instruments, and flags and face paint in support of your team, the passion that Germans have for football is evident. Attending a football game in Germany is a must!
