SV Werder Bremen is one of the founding clubs of the Bundesliga. It is one of those clubs rich in tradition that have shaped the league and thus the football scene of the entire country for decades. In recent years, the four-time German champions have not always fared well, with relegation in 2021 marking a low point. But Werder wouldn't be Werder if the club hadn't quickly emerged from this sporting trough –with their time outside the top flight amounting to just one season after securing an immediate return to the Bundesliga.
This bouncebackability is a mindset tailor-made for the club from the northern Hanseatic city, although Werder's attitude to life has a few other facets to offer; social commitment and sustainability are definitely among them. Marco Bode can tell you a thing or two about this. The 40-time German international footballer scored a whopping 101 Bundesliga goals for the club, putting him second on Werder's all-time list. Meanwhile, the football veteran is a supporter of the SPIELRAUM concept. With this programme, the traditional club from the Weser wants to give children and young people in northwest Germany access to sporting activities. "Together we are trying to create an offer that strengthens the children," says Bode. For this purpose, they work together with day-care centres, schools, sports clubs and social organisations – with the common goal of enabling adolescents to lead healthy and active lives. Players from the professional departments of SV Werder, such as Manuel Mbom or Ricarda Walkling, are also involved.
But the environment is also close to the club's heart: Werder Bremen is one of the signatories of Sports for Climate Action, an initiative of the UNFCCC, i.e. the ‘United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’. This means the club wants to achieve the net zero target by 2040 as part of the "Race to Zero" campaign. This would mean the entire operation of the wohninvest WESER STADIUM and other club facilities not producing any climate-damaging emissions by then. The campaign, initiated by the UN, is the world's largest alliance to achieve this goal. Clubs such as VfL Wolfsburg and Liverpool FC are also signatories, as are the major associations of UEFA and FIFA. But it is not only the football world that is taking part; over 1,100 cities, 1,000 educational institutions, more than 3,000 hospitals and no less than 7,500 companies are part of the global effort to fight climate change.
In German football, Werder Bremen is a trailblazer when it comes to climate protection – proving that even as the occasional underdog, you can always be a pioneer. In this case, even an ecologically and socially immensely important one.
