Schaaf the brains behind Bremen

No team has threatened FC Bayern München's Bundesliga hegemony more in recent years than Werder Bremen. Not only are they the last side to have denied the Bavarian giants the title in 2003/04 but they are the only other German club to have made the top three, and the UEFA Champions League, in each of the last three seasons.

Hard work ahead
Having defeated Bayern 2-0 to win the German League Cup at the weekend, Bremen go into the new campaign with high hopes of improving on their runners-up position last term. But coach Thomas Schaaf knows there is hard work ahead. "We have said before that we want to improve on second place," he told uefa.com. "We still have a lot to do and Bayern remain, as in every season, the clear favourites."

One-club man
Schaaf is a rare example in modern football of a one-club man. He joined Bremen when he was ten, spent his entire playing career in the team, helping them win the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Bundesliga and German Cup, became youth coach in 1995, then led the reserves before taking his current post in May 1999. Only a month into his reign Bremen beat Bayern on penalties to claim the German Cup and the mid-table regulars began a gradual improvement until they completed the double two years ago.

Collective toil
Bremen lost playmaker Johan Micoud to FC Girondins de Bordeaux this summer but the Schaaf system does not rely on talented individuals, rather collective toil. "For years our philosophy has been to get as far as possible in every competition and we want to focus our concentration on the next test," the 45-year-old said. "This means we must perform at a consistently high level in the Bundesliga and cannot afford any passengers."

New arrivals
Competing with Bayern also means investment in players, and to that end Schaaf has signed highly-rated centre-back Per Mertesacker from Bremen's opening Bundesliga opponents Hannover 96, FC Internazionale Milano defender Pierre Womé, right-sided Clemens Fritz from Bayer 04 Leverksuen, Brazilian midfielder Diego, forward Hugo Almeida from FC Porto and striker Mohamed Zidan from 1. FSV 05 Mainz. "We have really strengthened the squad," Schaaf said. "The spine of the team has remained so that we can take the next step forward."

European hopes
Bremen have already proved a force in the UEFA Champions League and Schaaf believes they can be a contender this season. "We want to please our fans and perform as outstandingly as we have in the last two campaigns," he said. "If we play as we did at the end of our last UEFA Champions League campaign, we can reach the last 16 again."

Bayern threat
They demonstrated that by defeating Bayern in the League Cup on Saturday, and Schaaf is in no doubt that they will be the team to beat again. "Bayern won't be weaker than last season," he warned. But they will know that at least one side will push them all the way. Schaaf is making sure of that.

This is an abridged version of an article that appears in this week's edition of the uefa.com Magazine. To read the feature in full, click here.