And now it’s official!! Tim Wiese will be pulling on a different shirt in the coming season. Nothing for Werder fans to worry about though, his new jersey will also bear the Werder crest but the number on the back will be new.
And now it’s official!! Tim Wiese will be pulling on a different shirt in the coming season. Nothing for Werder fans to worry about though, his new jersey will also bear the Werder crest but the number on the back will be new.
And now it’s official!! Tim Wiese will be pulling on a different shirt in the coming season. Nothing for Werder fans to worry about though, his new jersey will also bear the Werder crest but the number on the back will be new. From the first friendly game in preparing for the new season against TuS Pewsum, Tim Wiese will be sporting the number ‘1’. On Friday evening at 7pm, the time will have come. After two years with ‘18’ on his back, following the departure of Andreas Reinke as first choice keeper, the 25 year old Wiese will finally have the number he came to Bremen to make his own.
For Wiese himself, the new number is not really a notable change: “I don’t really care about the number on my back. I had no problem with the number ‘18’, that was the number I wore as I made my breakthrough with Werder. I didn’t force the issue but someone has to wear the number ‘1’”, explained the keeper who had to battle to take the number ‘1’ shirt when he played for Kaiserslautern. “Back when I was in Kaiserslautern I wore the number ‘12’ jersey but that belongs to the fans in Bremen.”
Wiese’s competitors between the posts for Werder, Christian Sander (33) and new signing Nico Pellatz (40) both chose numbers in the higher double figures in footballing terms. The number ‘40’ has a special meaning for Nico Pellatz: “I’ve worn the number ‘40’ since I played for Hertha BSC Berlin. I was allowed to choose a number back then but the options were limited. As a young keeper I felt the number ‘1’ was a little too much for me and ‘12’ was already taken so I thought of my age at the time and doubled it. In Hertha, as in Bremen, I have the highest number which I take as being positive. I like being at the bottom of the list”, joked the youngster who added: “I am a superstitious person and that’s why I opted for the number again. Before games I always put my gloves on in the same order. When I play well I always follow the same order of process for the next game but on bad days I make sure to do things differently next time around.”
Werder striker Markus Rosenberg has no time for superstition at all: “I don’t think much of such things. At Ajax I wore the number ‘8’ and here I have the number ‘9’. When I think about it, down the years I’ve worn almost every number.” The Swede was not particularly interested in taking the number ‘11’ shirt which is now free since the departure of Miroslav Klose: “That never crossed my mind!”
Werder announced the official squad numbers whilst on Norderney and aside from Wiese, there have been no changes to those of last season. The following players will wear the following numbers.
Werder squad numbers 2007/2008
Tim Wiese (1), Christian Vander (33), Nico Pellatz (40), Petri Pasanen (3), Naldo (4), Pierre Wome (5), Frank Baumann (6), Jurica Vranjes (7), Clemens Fritz (8), Markus Rosenberg (9), Diego (10), Aaron Hunt (14), Patrick Owomoyela (15), Leon Andreasen (16), Ivan Klasnic (17), Daniel Jensen (20), Torsten Frings (22), Hugo Almeida (23), Tim Borowski (24), Peter Niemeyer (25), Christian Schulz (27), Kevin Schindler (28), Per Mertesacker (29), Kevin Artmann (31), Martin Harnik (34).
