Union's Men Travel to Bremen
From the Waldseite to the Weser
Following last week's floodlit win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1. FC Union Berlin will open the coming Bundesliga weeekend for the second week in a row. On Friday evening they will travel to play SV Werder Bremen. Kick off at the Weserstadion is at 20:30.
The lie of the land
It's rarely boring in Bremen, and SV Werder's season so far has been typically turbulent. Their first round exit in DFB Pokal to Union’s upcoming opponents, DSC Arminia Bielefeld, was followed by the opening day 41 loss at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, only then did they pick up their first points against Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Having beaten St. Pauli and drawn with Heidenheim in the last two matches, Bremen currently have eight points.
Head coach Steffen Baumgart's side, meanwhile, having recorded their last away win in the furious 4-3 in Frankfurt.
Sport-Verein „Werder“ von 1899 e.V. have always been an important presence in the Bundesliga, having spent only two seasons outside of German football's top flight. They are third on the all-time table, and are the only team besides FC Bayern München and Borussia Dortmund to break the magical 3000 points mark. Although recent history belies that story, after two matches without defeat, under the new head coach Horst Steffen Bremen's form is again on the rise. The 56-year-old has been in charge since the start of the season having taken over the reins from Ole Werner, who moved to RasenBallsport Leipzig.
SVW strengthened on the pitch this summer, their primary focus on rejuvenating the squad. While they were the third oldest team in the 2024/25 season (with an average age of 27), this has now been dropped to make them the second youngest with an average age of 24.4. This was achieved through the departures of goalkeeper Michael Zetterer, Marvin Ducksch, and Anthony Jung, as well as the new signings of Samuel Mbangula and the loan deals for Cameron Puertas and Victor Boniface. Besides Karim Coulibaly, who comes from Bremen's academy. Mbangula is Werder's most dangerous player with two goals and three assists, while Puertas adds new elements to the attack with his vision and creativity.
Of the ten Bundesliga matches so far when FCU and SVW have faced each other, Union have won six, Bremen have won three (as well as their only cup-tie in 2010), while one ended in a draw.
Derrick Köhn, was loaned from Galatasaray to Bremen last season. In thirty games for the Green-Whites, he contributed two goals and two assists.
His former team-mate, Oliver Burke, will also play against his former team-mates for the first time on Friday. Over two spells, he played forty-six matches for Bremen, scoring eight goals and providing one assist.
Union's coaching team will have to do without Robert Skov and Andrik Markgraf for the match.
“Bremen are simply a good team with many players who know what they are doing even in tight spaces," said Union head coach, Steffen baumgart, during his press conference on Wednesday afternoon. "Even when they have the ball, the coach hasgiven them a clear plan, and we must find solutions for that. It will be an exciting match in which we need to show our own strengths.”
Nearly 3,800 Unioners will support their side on Friday evening at the Weser. The mobile Zeughaus will be onsite. Information for all away fans can be found here (German)
The match will be broadcast live on SKY, as well as on the BBC IPlayer in the UK . Union will provide updates in English on twitter, as well as the usual exclusive match report.
