As the curtain closes on another Bundesliga campaign, the time also comes for several Green-Whites to say farewell on the 34th and final matchday of the season. SV Werder Bremen gave a special send-off to four of their own ahead of the home game against VfL Bochum, with Frank Baumann, Christian Groß, Jiri Pavlenka and Nick Woltemade all set to leave the club.
Frank Baumann has dedicated nearly half of his life to Werder Bremen. At the time of his arrival in Bremen back in 1999, Boris Becker was competing at Wimbledon for the last time, the Deutschmark was still the country's official currency and Germany's chancellor was Gerhard Schröder. Over the next 25 years, Baumann would go on to leave his mark on the club, both as a player and later as a member of the club's management team. The former Werder captain guided his side to the domestic double in 2003/04 and won the DFB-Pokal a second time in 2009 – our last major trophy as a club. In total, Baumann made an incredible 360 appearances for the Green-Whites.
Just a few months after his playing career came to an end, the Würzburg native was named the seventh honourary captain in Werder's history. Baumann was then employed in various roles at the club, working his way up from the scouting department to his eventual position as sporting director, which he took up in 2016. In that time, the 48-year-old has experienced it all with the club, from the pain of relegation to the joys of promotion. While he is stepping down from his current position, Baumann will still remain part of the club due to his involvement in the strategic partner group that purchased an 18% stake in the SV Werder Bremen GmbH & Co KGaA in January 2024.
After announcing his retirement from professional football at the end of the season Christian Groß made his final appearance for SVW against VfL Bochum. The 35-year-old featured 117 times across all competitions for Werder's first team, scoring his first and only Bundesliga goal against RB Leipzig in November 2022. Groß was able to celebrate several milestones while at the Green-Whites, the most notable of which was making his Bundesliga debut at the ripe age of 30. After hanging up his boots, Groß will now take up a position as a scout at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, where is former teammate Kim Falkenberg is in charge of squad planning.
Werder said goodbye to another long-time player in Jiri Pavlenka. The 32-year-old moved to the Weser in 2017 from Slavia Prague and was Werder's first-choice goalkeeper for more than six seasons. The Czechia international featured 221 times for the Green-Whites, staying loyal to the club even after their relegation from the Bundesliga. Pavlenka suffered an injury while on international duty in October 2023 and lost his spot in the starting XI to Michael Zetterer. After seven years at Werder, 'Pavlas' will now leave the club in search of a new challenge.
Nick Woltemade has been at the club since 2010, making his way up through the ranks of the club's academy sides before breaking into the first-team squad. The 22-year-old announced his departure earlier this season already, before playing a key role in attack during the season run-in. Woltemade netted his first Bundesliga goals for Werder after bagging a brace against Borussia Mönchengladbach. After spending the majority of his life with the Green-Whites, the youngster is yet to announce where the next stop in his career will be.
Dear Frank, dear Grosso, dear Pavlas and dear Nick: SV Werder would like to thank you for your efforts for the club over several years, which we will always remember fondly. We wish you all the best for the future!
