Overview
- Hess‑Grunewald told the club he will not stand for re‑election at the member assembly in November and will remain in office until that vote while stepping down as supervisory‑board chair once a successor is chosen.
- He said personal limits on his energy are the main reason for the decision and he denied that criticism of his person or the ongoing legal dispute with a members' initiative drove his choice.
- The Wahlausschuss, the club's autonomous election committee, is managing the succession process with support from a personnel consultancy and will present candidate(s) to the November assembly under the club's current rules.
- Several names have been floated by media — including Philipp Mehrtens, Harm Ohlmeyer and Dirk Wintermann — but none is confirmed and Hess‑Grunewald has said he will not influence the committee's work.
- Werder enters the transition from a position of relative economic stability but faces longer‑term tasks such as boosting member participation among roughly 70,000 members and sustaining recent sporting progress under the current sporting leadership.