Werder Bremen under investigation, allegedly spied on opponents using drone

Bremen's general manager, Frank Baumann, admitted that their club had a person in a car around 500m away from Hoffenheim's training ground.

However, he denied any previous knowledge of his club planning to use a drone, but said that it was common practice in the Bundesliga to gather information about the opponents.

Baumann said Bremen had also removed spies from trees on earlier occasions.

However, Baumann's comments turned out to be a deliberate falsification after the club updated on their website that they had indeed used a drone during Hoffenheim's training, and it was done so after Baumann himself, Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt, and their analysis team had a discussion.

Baumann himself then admitted so in a press conference albeit stating that all issues were resolved with Hoffenheim.

Though Bremen accepted flying a drone and publicly issued an apology to Hoffenheim, the latter did report the matter to the police when they saw the device.

This could cause problems for Bremen, because although they insist they have done nothing illegal, flying a drone over a crowd is illegal in Germany and could result in a fine of £45,000 for the Bundesliga team.

During the 2018 World Cup, Sweden had sent a spy to gather information about their South Korean opponents.

The Swedish coach had himself admitted to this, but apologized to the South Koreans for causing them any distress.

Interestingly, the South Korean manager had said that he had his players switch shirts to confuse the spy, as he believes westerners cannot easily differentiate between Asians.