V - Vuvuzela: The deafening fanfare from the boisterous vuvuzelas split the football world in 2010 at the World Cup in South Africa, which went so well for the Werder Bremen quartet of Mertesacker, Mesut Özil, Marko Marin and Tim Wiese and the German national team. Germany impressed the world with powerful victories over England (4-1) and Argentina (4-0) before claiming third place. The tournament did not end so well for Daniel Jensen's Denmark side which was bounced in the first round with Jensen playing just once with an injury while Hugo Almeida scored one goal in two appearances as Portugal lost 1-0 in the Round of 16 to Spain.

W - Welcome return: The area consisting of the players‘ changing room, the coaches‘ area, the medical staff workspace and the fitness and relaxation rooms is among the most intimate and important areas for a football team. That made the Werder players all the happier after months of provisional quarters. Following the final Bundesliga home match of the 2009-10 season in May, the Green-Whites had to take temporary refuge in Weser Stadium's athletics hall due to the complete renovation of the East Curve. Shortly before the work began, former Werder manager and chairman of the board of the Stadium GmbH Manfred Müller described to the Weser Kurier the importance of the renovations, saying: "All this was built in 1996. It was great for that time, but times have changed." The efforts and wait have been more than worthwhile as the new changing room is definitely more than comfortable. "The changing room is much more modern designed, everything is much bigger. It's really super," said Werder keeper Tim Wiese.

X - XL (Roman numeral for 40): Things usually start very comfortably. That was also the case this year, on 5 July, with the start of training. After holidays, awaiting was a reunion with teammates. And following a short chat about the time off, trying on of the new training kit, and introduction of the new players, the Green-Whites completed the obligatory lactate test. Things on 5 July were still relaxed in the first of 40 days of season preparations. But soon to come was the much-feared trip to Norderney island, where a major portion of the conditioning work during the 40-day warm-up period is done. "Every phase of the preparation is important," underlined head coach Thomas Schaaf.