Triumphs over HSV
Paper ball to happiness: Werder’s big derby victories
Updated 12/30/2025 – 11:53 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
HSV and Werder Bremen maintain one of the oldest rivalries in German football. t-online looks back on great Bremen victories.
Finally derby time again in the north: Eight years after the last first division duel, HSV and Werder Bremen on December 7th again in the Bundesliga.
In the overall balance of the 158 competitive games, Bremen is just ahead with 60 wins, HSV has 56. In terms of goals, however, Hamburg leads with 279 hits, Werder scored 256. t-online remembers Bremen’s formative successes in the traditional duel.
Bremen, January 29, 1983: The meeting between fourth-placed Werder and leaders HSV was the top game of matchday 19. The Hamburg team had been unbeaten in 36 league games and was on course for a championship. But Otto Rehhagel’s team made an exclamation mark: Rudi Völler, Frank Neubarth and Benno Möhlmann scored for a 3-2 victory. At the end of the season, Werder only ended up in second place – eight goals behind the equal points champions from Hamburg.
Bremen, May 29, 1993: In the 1992/93 season, Bayern Munich led the league throughout, only Werder kept pace. On the 33rd matchday, the change at the top was successful: After a clear 5-0 over HSV, who played with a B-eleven and without regular goalkeeper Richard Golz, Bremen had the better goal difference. Bavaria’s Vice President Karl-Heinz Rummenigge even accused the people of Hamburg of fraud: “What was going on was a really lousy northern German provincial farce,” he said. While Bayern continued to be annoyed, Werder actually became champions a week later.
Bremen, May 1, 2004: Eleven years after the last championship, Werder was able to take a decisive step towards the title on matchday 31. As in 1993, HSV had the substitute goalkeeper in the box – and once again it became clear: 6-0 for Bremen. Rummenigge once again criticized sharply: “There has been huge damage to German football.” A week later, Werder won 3-1 in Munich and secured the championship.
Hamburg, April 22, 2009: At the start of the North German “Derby Weeks”, both clubs met in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup. In front of 55,000 spectators in the Volkspark, an intense duel developed that was only decided in a penalty shootout. There Tim Wiese became the match winner: Jérôme Boateng, Ivica Olic and Marcell Jansen failed one after the other at the Bremen goalkeeper. Werder made it to the final and later won the cup.