Hamburg vs. Werder Bremen: A history of the Nordderby
Hamburg host Werder Bremen in the storied Nordderby on Sunday with the regional rivals meeting in Germany's top flight for the first time since 2018.
Take a look back at one of German football's most-played fixtures as the duo, who boast 10 top-flight titles between them, prepare to face off for the first time in almost four years...
1963: The first Nordderby
There are two kinds of 'Nordderby' or north derby. One involves either of Hamburg and Bremen and/or Hannover, Wolfsburg, Hertha Berlin, Hansa Rostock, Holstein Kiel and - of course - HSV's fellow Hamburgers, St Pauli, all of whom are located in the north of Germany. But none of those fixtures is THE Nordderby. That's when Hamburg and Bremen meet.
Although the sides had met in regional football going back to 1927, the first collision of the northern powerhouses at a professional level came in the very first Bundesliga season of 1963/64. In Bremen, Hamburg legend Uwe Seeler found the net, but he was upstaged by Arnold 'Pico' Schütz, who struck three times in a 4-2 Werder win to secure bragging rights in the first encounter on the national stage.
1971: Werder wearing Hamburg shirts
There is little chance of fans swapping the colours of their neighbours just 77 miles distant with the off-the-pitch rivalry fierce. But Werder did have to do just that when referee Walter Eschweiler decided their red-and-white shirts were too similar to those of Hamburg, and forced the visitors to change. With Bremen not having brought alternative shirts, they were forced to wear those of HSV. It certainly seemed to help the hosts playing a familiar-looking team as they scored twice in the second half to claim a 2-1 victory.
1982: THAT Horst Hrubesch hat-trick
Horst Hrubesch carried the weighty mantle of being billed Seeler's successor, but he wore it well. No player has scored more times in this fixture in the Bundesliga than the seven goals Hrubesch hit against Bremen - a tally he shares with another HSV man, Franz-Josef Hönig, and Bremen's Schütz - and three of them came on a glorious day in 1982. Well, 'glorious' if you are a Hamburg fan…
Anyone who packed into the Volksparkstadion on that day will remember Hrubesch's hat-trick for a team coached by the legendary Ernst Happel in a 5-0 win - HSV's record Nordderby triumph - that would prove a cornerstone of the club's 1981/82 title win.
Watch: When Hrubesch was behind the Bundesliga advent calendar
2004: The double and biggest derby win for Werder
There is no better feeling for a football fan than watching their side romp to a derby win. When that comes in a double-winning season, all the better.
That was the dream Bremen supporters lived in a 2003/04 season that has gone down in club legend, though it is not one that Hamburg goalkeeper Tom Starke will remember with any fondness. The future Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich stopper was between the posts at the Weserstadion where a Sergej Barbarez own goal to open the scoring set the tone for a miserable afternoon for HSV. Five more goals would follow as Bremen claimed their highest-ever win in the fixture.
2008: Wiese's Kung-Fu kick
Tensions and tempers always flare on derby day, and the Nordderby has seen its fair share of white-hot atmospheres. Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese tried a post-playing career conversion in pro wrestling. That perhaps explains the incredible foot-first face-high assault he carried out on Hamburg forward Ivica Olic in 2008. Not out of place in the wrestling rings Wiese would later thrive in, but (fortunately) very much a rare sight on the 'green rectangle', the Bremen custodian somehow only received a booking, and his team took the points.
2009: Papierkugel-gate
HSV were actually having a good 2008/09 campaign before it all came crashing down in the space of four Nordderbys in 19 days between 22 April and 10 May. Wiese was Bremen's shootout hero in the DFB Cup semi-final between the duo, and though Hamburg won the first leg of the pair's UEFA Cup semi-final, a ball of paper — Die Papierkugel — played a central role in Bremen eventually going through in the second leg.
Michael Gravgaard was about to play a simple backpass to goalkeeper Frank Rost when the ball bobbled off some rolled-up paper that had been thrown onto the pitch. The ball struck Gravgaard on the shin, went out for a corner, and Frank Baumann scored from the set piece to help take Bremen into the final.
You can now see the Papierkugel in Bremen's club museum, the fabulously named 'Wuseum.' Just to rub salt in Hamburg's wounds, Bremen also won the Bundesliga game between the pair 2-0 thanks to a Hugo Almeida brace to wrap up the epic quartet of encounters.
Watch: The top 5 goals between Hamburg and Bremen
2018: The last Bundesliga Nordderby…
It was only in the 2020/21 season that Bayern Munich vs. Bremen became the most-played fixture in Bundesliga history. Prior to that - with 108 meetings - the Nordderby held pride of place. The last of those games came in the 2017/18 campaign when HSV finally lost their status as the only original member club never to have been relegated from the Bundesliga. It wasn't pretty either: HSV defender Rick van Drongelen scored an own goal four minutes from time in Bremen as the visitors lost 1-0.
Watch: Bremen beat Hamburg 1-0 the last time they met in the top flight in 2018
2021: The first Bundesliga 2 Nordderby
It is testament to the consistent success of the two clubs that the very first time they met outside the nationwide top flight was Matchday 7 of the 2021/22 Bundesliga 2 season. Hamburg caught hosts Bremen snoozing at either end of the first half with Robert Glatzel opening the scoring two minutes in before Moritz Heyer, who had teed up the first, notched the second in added time at the end of the opening period.
Referee Sascha Stegemann also had an eventful game, showing 11 yellow cards, two of which turned into reds for Bremen captain Christian Groß and his HSV counterpart Sebastian Schonlau either side of half-time.
2022: Win sent Bremen top
The return fixture was equally as entertaining with Marvin Ducksch striking twice to inflict a first home defeat of the season on Hamburg, sending Bremen top on Matchday 24. Ole Werner's side would secure a return to Germany's top flight, finishing runners-up to Schalke and three points above HSV, who had a superior goal difference over their rivals.
Watch: Ducksch strikes twice to send Bremen top
2025: Nordderby returns to the Bundesliga
It's not been easy, but three-time Bundesliga winners Hamburg returned to Germany's top flight after a seven-year absence at the end of 2024/25, which sets up a Matchday 13 meeting against Bremen at the Volksparkstadion. Just four points separate the teams heading into Sunday's clash after Fábio Vieira's stoppage time goal earned HSV a valuable three points again high-flying Stuttgart. Bremen are in equally impressive form, with just one defeat in their last seven league games under Horst Steffen, which sets up an enticing first Nordderby in the Bundesliga since February 2018.
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