by Daniel Bussard and Andrew Shuman ’11

Every weekend here in Bremen the same thing happens, everybody goes to their favorite bar or the lucky few that have tickets go to the stadium and watch the almighty Green and White, Werder Bremen. It’s a Bremen tradition, which almost everybody partakes in. If there is one thing every Bremer will talk about it is Werder Bremen and how they are doing right now and how they could do better.

Werder plays in the Weser Stadium, which is perhaps one of the nicest stadiums in the world, only problem is that right now they’re remodeling so right now it’s kinda a mess. It is located in the Östliche Vorstadt section of town east of the Viertel. It is directly next to the Weser and is also the location of many playing fields for different sports. The tickets to go to a game in the stadium are actually dirt cheap with “Stehplatz” (standing place) for a student running around 8 to 10 Euros a game with a season ticket for a student in the same area is 110 Euros. A “Sitzplatz” (seat) is going to run you 30 or more Euros but you always have a good view of the field no matter where you are. The atmosphere in the stadium is electric and awesome to experience. Everybody is dressed in green and white and singing the Werder chants. It’s kinda like American football back in the state but a little bit more extreme as here only soccer has the huge fan base and goes from fall to spring. My personal favorite space at the stadium is the Ostkurve, because this is mainly where all the hardcore fans are and where the atmosphere is explosive. It makes even the worst defeat seem slightly better, thankfully though Werder doesn’t often now defeat, having one of the best offensives in the Bundesliga.

Another great place to watch the game is one of the bars in the Viertel, which is where we normally watch the game when we don’t have tickets, especially at Hegarty’s one of the best bars in Bremen. The bars are always packed with fans due to the fact that you must buy a subscription that is outrageously expensive to watch live soccer games. It is a great substitute atmosphere when you don’t have tickets.

One of the cool distinct features of Werder is their training, it is always public and afterwards you can get autographs and pictures with the players. The players are also extremely friendly and outgoing here and often times we’ll be shopping at REWE and run in to Tim Wiese, Werder’s goalie. It is really awesome to watch the team practice and you come back form it with a new found respect for professional soccer players and the skills they have.