The end of the Bundesliga season was to be the beginning of a long international period. Most were battling for a World Cup 2006 place with the German players playing in Munich against Bayern as an official opening of the Allianz-Arena. Tim Borowski's goal saved the German national sides blushes before they went on to perform impressively in the Confed Cup and win the hearts of the fans.
Two Werder players had to pull out at short notice. Miroslav Klose had to undergo a knee operation while Christian Schulz was injured with the national team and had to return home. Both players were bitterly disappointed.
One international didn't get a call up at all and was still a hero. Nelson Valdez delayed his flight to Paraguay by two weeks and stayed to help out in the reserve team were he had proven himself in the past. In two games against Dortmund and Essen, Valdez scored three goals and secured the reserves thrd division football for the coming season. Those involved were extremely thankful.
There was less enthusiasm about the transfare of Valerien Ismael to FC Bayern. All seemed clear during Werders regenerations camp on Mallorca when Ismael acknowledged the interest of the Munich club. Both clubs agree on a deal after tense negotiations but the Frenchman bid farewell in style. The defender came to werder.de with a hand written letter and asked for it to be made public. The original can be seen today in WUSEUM.
A positive side of the Ismael deal was to be the return of Torsten Frings to the Weser. With that Werder had another German international within their ranks.
The Euphoria around Werder Bremen remained intact. Once again the club were forced to stop the sale of season tickets at 25,000. The membership campaign was extended due to massive interest. Werder made anumber of new signings in lue of the new season. Belgian international Jelle van Damme, Leon Andreasen, Patrick Owomoyela and Tim Weise all joined the Green-White Army.