Werder Bremen was founded on 4 February 1899 as Fußballverein Werder by a group of sixteen vocational high school students who had won a prize of sports equipment to set them on their way.They took their name from the seldom used regional German word for “river peninsula”, describing the riverside field they first played football on. Werder Bremen has grown to 39,100 members.

Bremen have been a mainstay in the Bundesliga, top flight of German football. Bremen have been crowned champions on four occasions and have won the DFB-Pokal on six occasions. Their most recent achievements in these competitions came in 2004, when they won an historic double. Bremen have also tasted European success, beating AS Monaco in the 1992 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, 2–0.Bremen also reached the final edition of the UEFA Cup in 2009, before it was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League, where they met Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk. Shakhtar won the final 2–1 in extra time.

Werder Bremen supporters have a long-running friendship with Rot-Weiss Essen, who currently play in the Regionalliga West(4th tier). They have a long-standing rivalry (known as the NordDerbywith fellow northern club Hamburger SV, another major club in northern Germany, and other big clubs like Bayern Munich in particular. They have developed a recent, but intense dislike of Schalke after the Gelsenkirchen side lured top players with lucrative contracts to join them.

Club Honours:

League Titles – 4

2003-04, 1992-93, 1987-88, 1964-65

UEFA Cup Winners Cup – 1

1991-92

UEFA Intertoto Cup - 1

1998

DFB- Pokal – 6

2008-09, 2003-04, 1998-99, 1993-94, 1990-91, 1960-61