When exactly it was, Willi Lemke no longer knows today. The 76-year-old still remembers the great urgency that accompanied every single word of Wolfgang Sidka. After all, she made sure that in the summer of 1997 he got on a plane head over heels, destination: Sao Paulo, Brazil. There was a striker under contract at Guarani FC that Werder coach Sidka really wanted. So it was up to manager Lemke to bring this man to Werder Bremen. His name: Ailton Goncalves da Silva. It didn’t work at first. And yet it was the beginning of a story that could easily be turned into a Netflix series today. A stubborn president, the Lemke family’s vacation in Jamaica, a dubious middleman, money from a slush fund and finally the greatest success in the Bremen club’s history. All of this is in it and will be retold now that Ailton Goncalves da Silva celebrates his 50th birthday on July 19th.
Episode 1: Shredded
If Sidka wants this player, he should get him, Lemke thinks, and shortly after the start of the 1997/98 season he gets official permission from the SV Werder Bremen executive committee to go on a business trip to South America. “But I quickly realized there was nothing to be done,” he says. Together with the banker and later Werder managing director Jürgen L. Born, who lives in South America and speaks fluent Portuguese, Lemke made representations to the president of Guarani FC – and rebuffed him before he could properly present his request. “Not for sale, not for sale,” was all they said, which is quite annoying for the manager. Had there been other signals before departure? Willi Lemke quickly accepts the basket and doesn’t want to get involved in price haggling. “Our financial policy was very defensive back then,” he says. A year later, things should look a little different.
Episode 2: The number
Every now and then, at intervals of a few weeks, sometimes months, Lemke asks the Guarani president about Ailton, repeatedly depositing Bremen’s interest in the player. Unsuccessful. At the beginning of 1998, great disillusionment suddenly flowed through the telephone line between Bremen and Brazil: Willi Lemke found out that Guarani had sold the striker to Mexico. UANL Tigres, a club from the city of San Nicolás de los Garza, near the metropolis of Monterrey, is now Ailton’s new employer – and thus Lemke’s new target. “I was really angry with the Guarani president and told him that he should at least put me in touch with Mexico,” he emphasizes. At least that works. In his office in the Weser Stadium, the manager wrote down the number of a Mexican middleman.
Episode 3: Lots of money
Call in Mexico, outcome completely uncertain. Then a stranger’s voice, to which Willi Lemke describes Bremen’s interest in Ailton. A sentence or two later: the invitation to Mexico. “I was really motivated to come,” recalls Lemke, who immediately adjusted his holiday planning at the time so that after spending time with his family in Jamaica he would not return to Bremen but fly to Monterrey. On site, however, the manager has to realize that the middleman is, shall we say, vehemently insisting on an expense allowance. Years later, in May 2004, “Der Spiegel” reported that “plenty of black money” had changed hands with the Ailton deal. The news magazine relies on internal reports from the Bremen tax investigation department, which show that Werder Bremen had run a slush fund with donations from secret donors. 120,000 Deutschmarks are said to have flowed underhand to the middleman. “Everything has been completely explained. Nothing of the matter stuck,” emphasizes Lemke. On September 14, 2001, Werder’s presidium filed a self-report, and in 2004 Lemke told the German Press Agency: “The Spiegel report is old hat. No tax proceedings were initiated against us at the time. Besides, the case is closed.” In autumn 1998, Ailton moved to Bremen for the record sum of five million Deutschmarks, which led to a flight that players and managers will never forget.
Episode 4: Bremen bom
When everything is settled with UANL Tigres, Lemke finally stands in front of the man he has been trying to meet for over a year – and gives Ailton a good deal of a fright. “He asked me when we were going to Bremen and I said: tomorrow! He fell out of nowhere,” Willi Lemke looks back. But the essentials are quickly packed, and the next day the two men are sitting next to each other on the plane. From Monterrey to Bremen, that’s almost 9,000 kilometers, depending on the connection, that’s a journey time of up to 20 hours – and above all, these are unexpected challenges, if you don’t even begin to understand the person next to you. “Since I don’t speak Portuguese or Spanish, and Ailton didn’t speak German or English at the time, it was difficult to have a conversation,” says Lemke with a laugh. But then they found it, the smallest common language denominator: “Bremen bom”, Bremen good. There was agreement. “We said this sentence, and really only this one sentence, to each other,” explains Lemke, “again and again, probably 30 to 50 times during the flight”. To this day, both men greet each other that way before hugging.
Episode 5: Short Joy
With a delay of a good year, Lemke brought Sidka’s dream player to Bremen in October 1998. But the coach is no longer happy, because only a week later he has to leave after a completely botched start to the season. Felix Magath takes over the SV Werder Bremen team and a few months later is also in Lemke’s office with an Ailton concern. “The fat man has to go, Felix said to me,” reports Willi Lemke. “I just said: Forget it! I’ve never fought so hard for a player in my career. He just needs time, and he’ll get it!” Magath, on the other hand, didn’t, in May 1999 he was no longer a Werder coach.
Episode 6: The Coronation
Magath’s successor Thomas Schaaf initially saved the team from relegation, then sensationally won the DFB Cup and formed the team that would win the double in 2004 in the years to come. In the most successful Werder season of all time, Ailton secured the top scorer with 28 goals, then left the club and became a football globetrotter. After the career then directly the next: as a TV star and advertising figure. “He’s an incredibly warm and great person,” enthuses Willi Lemke, who still meets the Brazilian regularly to this day. Preferably in person, of course, but also when I’m shopping if necessary: “In my supermarket, Ailton is a large cardboard cutout. I’m happy every time I walk past him.”
Sort them correctly and, with a little luck, win the new home shirt of SV Werder Bremen!
Over the years, a number of coaches have sat on the SVW bench. Sort the coaches mentioned in the correct chronological order. Start from the top with the most recent trainer (interims excluded).
Over the years, a number of coaches have sat on the SVW bench. Sort the coaches mentioned in the correct chronological order. Start from the top with the most recent trainer (interims excluded).
The SVW is known for its attacking football. The club has already been the top scorer on several occasions. Put the named top scorers in the correct chronological order. Start at the top with the latest goalscorer cannon winner.
The SVW is known for its attacking football. The club has already been the top scorer on several occasions. Put the named top scorers in the correct chronological order. Start at the top with the latest goalscorer cannon winner.
New season, new luck! With the coming season, the SVW denies its 59th first division season. But how does the club perform in the all-time table? Start at the top with the club with the most points.
New season, new luck! With the coming season, the SVW denies its 59th first division season. But how does the club perform in the all-time table? Start at the top with the club with the most points.
Oops, you still have to practice a little!
Your chance of winning is independent of the number of correct results! The WESER-KURIER wishes you good luck!
Solid performance! With a little practice, you’ll soon be part of the SVW group of experts!
Your chance of winning is independent of the number of correct results! The WESER-KURIER wishes you good luck!
Wow, you’ve more than earned expert status!
Your chance of winning is independent of the number of correct results! The WESER-KURIER wishes you good luck!
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