Werder Bremen and long-time football director Frank Baumann will go their separate ways next summer after his contract expires. The Hanseatic League confirmed this on Wednesday.
Baumann reported the decision not to extend his contract to the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Hubertus Hess-Grunewald, in a personal conversation, said the statement.
“We as the supervisory board very much regret Frank’s decision, but of course we respect and accept it,” said Hess-Grunewald.
Discussions about Baumann’s future had been going on for several weeks. “It was important for us to have clarity at an early stage as to whether Frank would be available after June 30, 2024 or not. We are well prepared as a committee and will intensively continue the process that has already begun to regulate Frank Baumann’s successor “To find the best solution for Werder Bremen,” added the chairman of the supervisory board.
Werder will “examine both internal and external options,” announced Hess-Grunewald. Clemens Fritz, currently head of licensing at Bremer, “of course plays a role in the considerations”.
The 42-year-old is “one of the successor candidates” for Baumann, said Hess-Grunewald. “We want to have found a solution by the end of the first quarter of 2024.” Baumann will “continue to be fully responsible for issues and projects in the sporting area until the end of his term in office,” the Werder boss also made clear.
“New impulses and ideas” for Werder Bremen
Baumann himself, who has been working in Bremen since 1999, first as a player and then as an official, explained that the decision to end this era was “not an easy one for him because Werder has been much more than an employer for me for many years. But I’m sticking with it “After eight years in management, the decision was right and important both for me personally and for the club.”
His current position is “challenging and exhausting.” It is also good for the club to “allow new impulses and ideas”.
Werder Bremen is “very well positioned strategically, sportingly, economically and in terms of personnel to be able to shape the future successfully,” said Baumann.