[3] 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.

[4] The name "Werder" is the German word for "river peninsula", alluding to the riverside field on which the team played their first football matches.

Due to the club's popularity, Werder became the first side in the city to charge entry fees for home matches.

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.

[5] 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.

[6] 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 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.

During the latter season, Werder hosted Bayern Munich in the penultimate match; Bremen needed to win to secure the title.

In the last minutes of the game, Werder were awarded a penalty kick, which Michael Kutzop missed; the match ended goalless.

Bremen became the first German club to reach the group stage of the newly rebranded UEFA Champions League in 1993–94.

[18] In this period, Werder had numerous internationals, including Mario Basler, Marco Bode, Rune Bratseth, Andreas Herzog, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Wynton Rufer, and Rudi Völler.

[19] Bremen finished runners-up in the 1994–95 Bundesliga; at the end of the season, after a then-national record 14-year stint at Werder, Rehhagel left the club for Bayern Munich.

[20] Rehhagel, Bremen's most successful manager, had employed a "controlled offensive" style of play, and worked on a tight budget during his reign.

[21] His successors (Aad de Mos, Dixie Dörner, Wolfgang Sidka, and Felix Magath) did not win any major honours.

[25] In 2008–09, the team reached the UEFA Cup final—losing 2–1 against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk after extra time—and the DFB-Pokal final, defeating Bayer Leverkusen by a scoreline of 1–0.

[25] During this period, Werder had several players who were sold for large transfer fees, including Diego, Torsten Frings, Miroslav Klose, Mesut Özil, and Claudio Pizarro.

The oval shape was replaced with a diamond one in 1929, to form the club's current crest, save for a spell in the 1970s when the coat of arms of Bremen was used.

[42] That year saw the construction of a sports venue with a wooden grandstand, built by the Allgemeinen Bremer Turn- und Sportverein.

Both ends (east and west) were torn down and rebuilt parallel to the endline of the pitch, removing what was left of the old athletics track.

[43] Bremen have a long-standing rivalry with fellow northern German club Hamburger SV, known as the Nordderby (English: "North derby").

[46] Since the mid-2000s, Bremen fans have developed a dislike of Schalke 04, after they poached several Werder players over the years, including Aílton, Fabian Ernst, Mladen Krstajić, Oliver Reck, Frank Rost, and Franco Di Santo.

[58] The anthem of Werder Bremen is "Lebenslang Grün-Weiß" by Bremen-based band Original Deutschmacher, which is also sung before every home game.

[59] After each Bremen goal, the song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers is played, preceded by the sound of a ship's horn.